


Today I (don't) want to come back alone

by withlouforalifetime



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho, Jealousy, M/M, Movie AU, Pining, The Way he looks, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-08
Updated: 2014-12-08
Packaged: 2018-02-28 14:07:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2735411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/withlouforalifetime/pseuds/withlouforalifetime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry bites his lip and stares at Louis. It’s so weird. When he is with Louis, he doesn’t see the blind boy that everybody sees, he just sees Louis, his friend Louis, not the fragile boy people say he is. He is just like anybody else. So what if he is blind? That shouldn’t matter to anyone, he is as funny and as good as anybody else, probably even more, and people still decide to treat him like garbage. He doesn’t see Louis as a fragile boy. Harry thinks Louis is the strongest person he has ever met and he admires him a lot for that.</p><p>“Have you always been like this, Lou?”</p><p>Harry breaks the silence and Louis answers his question, keeping his mischievous smile on his face.</p><p>“Yeah, since I was born” Harry smirks.</p><p>“So you have never seen Perrie’s face?”</p><p>Louis’ face falls and he sighs. “No, never”</p><p>Or the AU where Louis is blind, Harry is the new student and Perrie causes drama every 10 seconds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Today I (don't) want to come back alone

**Author's Note:**

> Hi. My friend and I recently watched this brazilian movie called Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho (The Way He Looks) and we loved it, so we decided to write a Larry AU about it.  
> The movie is about a boy (Leo) who is looking for independence and whose world is turned upside down when falls in love with the new student (Gabriel). In this AU, Louis will be Leo and Harry will be Gabriel.
> 
> If you haven't watched it, do it, it's online and you'll love it.
> 
> And if you speak Spanish this is the link with subtitles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4csTFCqbM8
> 
> Hope you like it guys, leave kudos or comment or whatever.

**TODAY I (DON'T) WANT TO COME BACK ALONE**

* * *

 

Some people relate summer to the burning rays of sun, the sound of waves crashing against the white sand and the endless midnight parties on the night clubs. Some other people relate summer to delicious homemade food, the peace that comes with reading their favorite book and the sweet chorus of birds outside their windows. For some people summer means luxurious trips, new adventures and accomplishing dreams. For some others, it means days and nights shared with family, friends, and all their loved ones. Some people relate summer to that one special person they met who had the power to change their lives in the best way. Following this pattern, you could say summer means a lot to a lot of people.

But as usual, there’s always one exception, and to Louis, summer isn’t any different from the rest of the year. And that’s exactly why, in his last day of summer, he is lying on his stomach across his best friend in the edge of her pool.

“So, Perrie,” Louis breaks the silence as he traces the warm water of the pool with his fingers. “What’s your level of laziness right now?”

“Six, probably. What’s yours?”

“Eight… And a half”

“And a half?” Perrie asks as she joins his game of tracing patterns on the water. “That much?”

“The sun, the vacations, the pool. I hate to think that this will all be over soon”

“Well, I’m tired of not doing anything”

“I’m happy not doing anything”

“We never do anything on vacations. Nothing ever happens.”

And that’s true. That’s also one of the reasons why summer isn’t a big deal to Louis. Ever since they met on kindergarten when they were kids, they have spent every summer together, either in each other’s bedrooms talking, eating and listening to music or in Perrie’s garden sunbathing or swimming in her pool. There isn’t much to do when you’ve grown up blind and with overprotective parents.

“What do you want to happen though?” Louis asks as he starts drawing yet another pattern on the water.

“I don’t know,” Perrie says at the same time she sits Indian style on her towel. “Some drama, some romances. None of that ever happens in our vacations”

Louis snorts at this because seriously? Perrie wants a romance? That’s the last scenario he can imagine of her on his head.

“And who do you imagine your romance with? You are the one who says our classroom is full of frogs”

Perrie rolls her eyes because really, Louis can be a right jerk sometimes.

“Well, it doesn’t have to be a prince. What about you? Don’t you worry about that?”

“About what?”

“About living your life without ever kissing anyone?”

“Perrie!” Louis shrieks and splashes some water on her face.

As much as Perrie complains about how much of a jerk he can be, there is a reason why they are best friends.

“Well, it’s the truth” Perrie says, Louis groans and entertains himself with his towel.

“Sleeping and listening to Beethoven in your vacations won’t solve that. You should kiss any girl, just to take that weight off”

“If I should kiss any girl then why don’t I kiss you?” He retorts.

And at this, Perrie blushes and looks down, because as much as she loves Louis as her best friend, there is no way to deny that she might have developed some strong feelings for him as a consequence of all these years they’ve spent together.

Louis stops playing with the water, dries his fingers on his towel and sits down.

“But I don’t want my first kiss to be like that” He sighs.

“Lou,” She rolls her eyes. “If you keep waiting for something special to happen, you will never kiss anyone”

“Who would want to kiss me anyways?”

“I can bet that Eleanor bitch would, but you’d probably transform into a frog”

“Jerk” Louis smiles.

That’s what Louis loves the most about Perrie, how she can always make him laugh and smile when he’s feeling down. She knows how hard it has been for him all these years. They have grown up together and therefore, she has been there when people make fun of him, she has protected him and been his guide for years. Nobody can understand him as good as she does.

“She is always staring at you” Perrie scoffs.

“Well, it’s depressing that the only person who would want to kiss me is Eleanor”

Perrie rolls her eyes and jumps into the water. Jerk Louis is someone she is used to, but victim Louis is not someone she can stand. And so Louis begins his – basically – daily rant against Eleanor.

“She just talks shit, you know? And she’s so boring. What if we kissed and she fell in love with me? Do you think she is like that?”

Louis waits for a response, and when it doesn’t come, he panics and traces the edge of the pool and the water with his palms.

“Pez?” “Perrie?” If something were to happen to her, he would be the last person who could help her.

“Perrie!”

Perrie emerges from the water and Louis lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

“What? Did you say something?” Perrie smirks.

“You weren’t listening to me?” He shrieks.

“No” She giggles.

“Come to the water, Lou, stop being such a party pooper” Louis scoffs.

“Nobody said I’m a party pooper!” Louis yells as he sinks to the bottom of the pool with his best friend.

*

They stop walking as soon as they reach their destination.

“You sure you don’t want to come in, Pez?” Louis asks.

“No, I still have to pack my things for school” Louis groans.

School is the last place he wants to visit right now.

“Your keys, Lou”

Louis finds his keys in one of his jacket pockets and hands them to Perrie, who receives them and unlocks the door for him.

“Here” Perrie grabs his hand and places the keys on his palm.

“I’ll see you tomorrow”

“Bye, Pez” Louis says. Perrie pecks his cheek and leaves.

Louis gets inside and locks his door.

*

“Mom! I’m home!” Louis yells and locks the door.

“Hi, Lou! The food is ready!” His mom shouts from the kitchen.

“I’m coming!” Louis shouts back.

He makes a walk for his bedroom, touching all the walls and furniture on his way to prevent himself from falling on his face. Once there, he places his backpack on the floor and follows the same way back to the dining room. He touches every chair in the dining room until he finds his, then sits and begins playing with it, balancing it only on two legs.

“Hi Lou” His mom, Jay, emerges from the kitchen and places his plate of food in front of him.

“How was your day?” His mom asks and fixes his chair.

“Good” He replies.

“Only good?” She asks.

“Nah, it was great”

“You are so burned,” She exclaims. “Did you use sun block?”

“I did mom” Louis lies. “There was just too much sun”

“You sure about that?” She asks accusingly.

“Mom” Louis groans. “You know I hate it, it leaves the skin all sticky. I’d rather not take the sun”

“Good, cause that’s what’ll happen next time”

“Come on, relax, mom” Louis sighs.

“Yeah, relax,” Jay rolls her eyes. “Did you pack your stuff already?”

“No, I was waiting for the laziness to leave my body. But since it didn’t, now I’ll have to do it with laziness” Louis groans.

He hears the door close and feels a familiar hand brushing the hair on his neck. Jay comes back to the kitchen to bring Mark’s plate.

“Hi Lou Lou!” His dad, Mark, greets.

“Hi dad” Louis smiles.

“You are burned. Where were you?”

“At Perrie’s”

“You know what? The other day I saw Pez and I was surprised” Mark chuckles.

Louis snorts. “Why surprised?”

“She’s all grown up, she’s a woman now”

“What do you mean dad?” Louis’ brows furrow and he balances his chair in two legs again.

“You both were children a few years ago, and now you’re all grown up. You’ve become adults”

Jay comes back from the kitchen and places Mark’s plate in front of him. She notices Louis playing with his chair and shares an annoyed look with Mark.

“The chair, Lou” Mark says.

“Dad, seriously?” Louis groans.

“I must have superpowers. I have been doing this for too long and I have never fallen”

“So funny” Mark rolls his eyes, grabs his arm and stops his game.

“Lou, I talked to your grandma.” Jay says. “This Wednesday she has an appointment with the doctor and I was thinking…”

“It’s okay, I can stay here” Louis interrupts.

Jay snorts.

“What? By yourself?” Louis raises an eyebrow.

“What? Why can’t I?”

“Lou,” Jay sighs. “What will you eat?”

“I don’t know, I’ll eat in school or make a sandwich. I don’t know…”

“No, I’m worried”

“Mom,” Louis whines. “What’s so tragic? What could happen?”

Jay and Mark share a worried look. It’s not that they don’t trust Louis, they do, but it’s other things they worry about. When Louis was born, they accepted the fact that they should be with him on every step, that he would need their help with the simplest things. And it’s hard. It’s hard because the small piece of freedom they had vanished when they doctor told them Louis was born blind. They have been with him all the time since he was a little child. And even when they couldn’t be there, they made sure Louis was not alone, they made sure that someone was with him when they left so he wouldn’t have to deal with things alone, so he wouldn’t be scared and exposed. And it’s even harder when Louis doesn’t understand their reasons and just complains about every single thing they do.

“Well,” Jay sighs. “Alright, you can stay here, but give us a call when you arrive home, okay?”

“Okay” Louis agrees.

“And make sure your phone is charged”

“Yes, mom” Louis plays with his chair and his dad fixes it, again.

*

_Tap, tap, tap. Ding!_

Louis kept typing on his machine. You see, when you’re blind, school is kind of a big deal. Mostly because while everyone else will choose between a red, blue or black pen, you have to stick by your Perkins Brailler. Fancy? Not really.

_Tap, tap, tap. Ding!_

The Perkins Brailler is a typewriter designed for people who are blind. It consists of 9 keys. Six of those represent each dot of the Braille alphabet. It also has a space key, a backspace key and a line space key. It has two knobs in each side to advance paper through the machine and a carriage return lever above the keys.

_Tap, tap, tap. Ding!_

Zayn smirks and pats Niall’s shoulder. Niall looks up and Zayn points at Louis sitting on the first row in the left side of the classroom. Niall rolls his eyes and covers both his ears with his hands.

_Tap, tap, tap. Ding!_

Zayn places both hands around his mouth.

_Tap, tap, tap. Ding!_

“Elevator up!” Zayn shouts.

Zayn smirks and everybody laughs.

Louis gulps, his body tenses and he stops typing. No, not again. Why can’t he leave him alone? His heartbeat increases and he gulps again to stop the tears on his eyes that are threatening to fall.

“Can I know what the joke is, Mr. Malik?” Mrs. Audi asks.

“Nothing, miss” Zayn responds.

“Well, I’m sorry, but this duet” – Mrs. Audi points to Zayn and Niall – “isn’t going to work this year. Zayn, please sit behind Louis”

“Whoa no, miss” Zayn exclaims.

Louis gulps again.

“Whoa Yes, Zayn” Mrs. Audi exclaims.

“But you know I can’t sit behind Louis. He is too close to that tec-tec from hell all day” Zayn complains.

“You are truly an ass, you know that?” Perrie says, brows furrowed and voice filled with venom.

“Mind your own business, stick legs”

 _And here we go again_ , Louis thinks. This is one of those times when Louis wishes he was dead.

Everybody laughs and Perrie scoffs.

“Zayn, you are a total jerk, you know that right?” Perrie says.

“I can show you what this jerk has, guide dog” Zayn smirks and makes a disgusting symbol with his fingers.

“Shut up, you prick!” Perrie shouts.

“What is this, people?” Mrs. Audi interrupts. “Where do you think you are?”

“Miss... If I sit behind Louis I will have to help him all day. Fuck, he can’t do anything by himself” Zayn waves his hands on the air.

Louis gulps and blinks repeatedly to stop the tears from falling. It’s been years and he still can’t understand why Zayn’s words affect him the same way they did the first time. It shouldn’t matter, he is blind, he was born blind and he grew up blind, and he is okay with that, he really is, but when someone points it out the way Zayn did, it hurts him deeply, and it breaks all his walls in a matter of seconds.

He doesn’t understand why people are like this with him. He is different, he knows he is different than the rest, but he hasn’t once messed with any of them. They all hate him, and it hurts, because he didn’t choose to be this way. He can’t help being this way, and Zayn’s words are like a blade, cutting deep inside him and making him feel worthless. He just wishes people would stop acknowledging him.

“Zayn, that’s enough. You won’t have to help anyone at the principal’s office. Pack your stuff” Mrs. Audi says.

Zayn’s face falls.

“Okay, miss, that’s a low blow”

“So what about Perrie? Is she coming to the principal’s too?” Niall asks.

“So what about you? Do you want to keep Zayn company?” Mrs. Audi asks.

“No, thanks” Niall responds.

“Zayn, go, now” Mrs. Audi orders.

Zayn groans, packs his stuff and stands up.

There is a knock at the door and suddenly all the attention is off of Louis. He lets out the breath he was holding and thanks whoever knocked on the door for the timing.

“Um, excuse me, is here the 211?”

“Yes, it is.” Mrs. Audi replies.

“What’s your name?”

“I’m Harry”

“Well then, come in”

Harry nods and comes inside. He closes the door and turns around. All eyes are on him and he gulps. He has never liked being on the spotlight. He points to the empty desk behind Louis.

“Can I sit in that empty desk?”

Everybody laughs and Louis tenses.

Harry stands awkwardly by the door. Whatever just happened, he has a feeling he doesn’t want to know.

“People” Mrs. Audi warns and everybody quiets down.

“Yes, you can” She tells Harry.

Harry makes his way to the empty desk.

“Welcome, Harry” Zayn pats him on the shoulder before leaving.

Harry sits on the empty chair and Perrie turns around. Louis is looking down and there’s sadness written all over her face when she stares at him.

She has been there with him all these years and she has defended him from everyone, she knows how hard this is for him. Louis barely talks about his feelings, but when he does, she is there for him. She knows him and she knows Zayn’s words really upset him.

“Any other joke?” Mrs. Audi asks. “No?”

“No” Everybody replies.

“Good” She nods, and the class goes on.

*

Louis hasn’t said a word since they got out of school and the silence between them is almost unbearable.

They reach their destination and Perrie finally breaks the silence.

“The keys, Lou” Perrie says.

Louis finds his keys on his jeans and Perrie extends her arm. This time, however, Louis turns around, finds the door and traces each rail with his fingers until he finds the bolt. He places the key correctly and unlocks the door. All the while, Perrie stands awkwardly by his side.

“Bye, Pez” Louis says.

“Bye, Lou,” She sighs. “Hey, don’t let that jerk ruin your day, alright?”

Louis nods. “Alright”

Perrie kisses his cheek and leaves.

*

After changing into sweatpants and a loose shirt, Louis jumps to his mattress and lies on his back.

 _This day couldn’t have been longer_ , he thinks. He closes his eyes and tries to fall asleep. He tries to forget everything that’s happened in the last 24 hours.

One of the things Louis hates the most about being blind is the fact that it’s always dark. Whenever he’s had a bad day – like today – and he wants to take a nap and forget it all, he just can’t. It’s not easy to forget about the world when you close your eyes and nothing happens. It is always the same for him.

He can’t pretend that by closing his eyes he’ll be able to forget everything that has happened. When he closes his eyes, nothing changes. Everything is still there, every wound is still opened, every minute of the day is still playing on his head and his heart won’t stop hurting until he has spent so much time rolling on his bed, just thinking, remembering, that his body gives up at some time and when he wakes up he can’t even remember what was the last thing he thought before falling asleep. Forgetting isn’t as easy as it seems in movies, not when you’re blind, not when you close your eyes and nothing happens.

So that’s how he spends that night. Rolling on his bed from side to side, lying on his stomach, lying on his back, furrowing his eyebrows, closing his eyes as hard as he can, trying to forget the events of the day, trying to think of things that make him happy, inhaling, exhaling, forcing himself to stop thinking, until his body gives up at some time in the night and eventually he falls asleep.

*

It’s 9:30 am and they finally get a 30 minutes break from all the stress that school involves.

Perrie is sitting Indian style with her back against one of the blue walls in the main hallway of school. Louis is lying on his back on the floor and his head is resting on Perrie’s legs while she massages his scalp and plays with his hair.

“I’m going to tell you something,” Perrie begins. “The new guy is really cute. Who knows? Maybe this year things will get better”

Louis shrugs. “Maybe”

“Maybe he is my blue prince” She sighs.

Louis chuckles. “Don’t exaggerate, Pez. He’s new, you barely know him”

“You jealous, Lou?” She asks in a mocking way.

“Yes, Pez, of course, I’m dying of jealousy” Louis replies, mocking her.

Perrie averts her eyes from him to stare at Harry across the hall. He is alone, holding a book with both hands and trying to seem occupied on something.

Perrie’s eyes suddenly widen and she groans.

“This is unbelievable!” She shrieks. “What the hell?”

“What’s wrong?” Louis asks, startled by her sudden change of mood.

“Eleanor is behind everybody, I swear”

“What are you talking about, Pez?”

“She just sat with Harry and she is flirting with him,” Perrie whines. “She doesn’t have enough with flirting with you so now she’s going for him.”

Louis chuckles and keeps listening to Perrie rant about Eleanor for the remaining of the recess.

*

“Cells are divided in two types…”

_Tap, tap, tap. Ding!_

Louis keeps typing as their teacher speaks. He is so focused on his notes that he doesn’t notice when a hand pats his shoulder until he hears a voice on his ear.

“Could you lend me an eraser?” Harry asks.

“Um, I don’t use an eraser” Louis replies, signaling to his machine.

Harry gulps and mentally face palms himself.

“Um, sorry, my bad”

“No, it’s fine” Louis smiles.

Harry stares at his notebook until he hears Louis’ voice again.

“Hold on…”

Louis extends his right arm and reaches Perrie’s desk looking for her eraser, until she kindly grabs it and places it on his palm. He passes it to Harry, who smiles.

“Thank you”

“You’re welcome” Louis says.

Harry and Perrie share a look and a small smile, and they keep writing on their notebooks.

*

“If I were Pluto and someone came and told me “hey, you’re not a planet anymore” I’d be so angry, seriously”

Harry and Louis laugh. Perrie can come up with the weirdest subjects and still seem smart somehow.

They are walking home back from school and this time Harry decided to join them. When school finished Perrie asked him if he was going up or down the street. He said down, which is the same route she always takes with Louis, so naturally, he joined them on their way back home. They stop when they reach Louis’ house.

“Keys, Lou”

Louis finds his keys on his jeans pockets and hands them over to Perrie. She unlocks his door for him and gives him the keys back.

“Bye, Louis” She pecks his cheek.

“Bye, Pez” Louis replies.

“Bye, Louis” Louis extends his arm and they shake hands.

“Bye, Harry”

Harry and Perrie wait until Louis safely gets inside to leave.

“Well, goodbye to you too” Perrie says.

“What? You’re not coming with me?” Harry asks, confused.

“Oh no, I live two blocks back but I always bring Louis home” Perrie explains.

“Oh, well, I’ll see you tomorrow then” He pecks her cheek and she blushes.

“Bye”

“Bye”

*

“Yes mom, I’m alive and well in my room”

Did Louis consider calling his mother to let her know he arrived home alive a waste of time? Yes, he did. But it was his first time home alone, and if he wanted to earn a second and third time, he had to do it.

“Okay, mom, I’m going to eat, bye”

He hangs up the phone and places his backpack on his chair. He touches his desk until he finds his iPod and presses play. The music begins playing and he sits on the couch. He sighs and stays there for a few minutes until he deems it necessary to take a shower. He takes his shirt off and begins to walk to his bathroom very carefully, touching everything on his way to avoid any damage. When he reaches the glass door, he slowly opens it, gets inside and closes it again. He opens the faucet and lets the warm spray of water hit his face.

Since their last day of summer, Louis hasn’t stopped thinking about his conversation with Perrie.

_“Lou, if you keep waiting for something special to happen, you will never kiss anyone”_

Her words replay on his head like a lullaby. He can’t stop thinking that maybe she’s right, he should just kiss anyone, maybe it’s not that big a deal. But at the same time, he wasn’t exaggerating when he implied nobody would want to kiss him. Who wants anything to see with a blind boy when there are millions of people outside there who are healthy and probably better looking than he is?

He turns around and sighs. He finds the glass of the door and takes a small step towards it. He presses his forehead against the glass and slowly and tentatively pecks the glass. He repeats this action all over again until the glass is foggy.

He can’t stop thinking that maybe in other circumstances, it probably would be as easy as kissing the glass door.

*

Later that night, when it’s already dark outside Perrie arrives home.

She breaks into his room and makes her way to the bed, turning the bedside lamp on before she lies across from him with her feet next to his head. There is a brief silence before Louis speaks.

“Have you ever thought about exchange, Pez?” Perrie snickers.

“What do you mean?”

“Exchange… You know, foreign exchange? Studying somewhere else, living in another place?”

Perrie makes a disgusted face and scoffs.

“Ew no, what a waste of time,” She laughs “Why?”

Louis shrugs.

“I was thinking about that earlier. I don’t know… Going to USA”

Perrie scoffs.

“Not USA, Lou. Why not France? I mean, can you imagine your vacations on Paris, wow”

“Yeah, but I’m not talking about vacations” Perrie’s brows furrow. “…and USA, France, I mean, whatever is fine, I just want to leave”

Another brief silence grows between them until Perrie speaks again.

“But why now, Lou?”

“It’s not the first time I’ve thought about it, it’s been a while now”

Perrie stays quiet. Louis wants to leave? How long has he thought about this? And why is he telling her now? Was he even planning on telling her? Did he even think about what it means for her if he leaves? There are a thousand doubts running through her head but she can’t seem to ask any of them, still too shocked by Louis’ sudden decision to comprehend it all.

“Just imagine going to a new place,” Louis continues. “Where nobody knows you, nobody knows who you are. You can come up with any personality you want”

“Any personality? Why? Don’t you like yours?”

“Yes, I do. But the problem isn’t me”

Perrie sighs because _she knows_ ; she knows Louis is not the problem.

The door is opened suddenly and Jay comes in, breaking their train of thoughts.

“Perrie, are you staying for dinner?”

“Yes, sure” She smiles.

She has always liked Louis’ family more than hers.

“When it’s all ready I’ll call you guys”

“Thank you” Jay leaves and Perrie sighs.

“What about your mom?” She asks.

“What about her?”

“What does she think of this?”

“She doesn’t know,” Louis answers. “Obviously”

Perrie raises an eyebrow.

“So you’re thinking about moving to another country without telling your parents, Lou?”

Louis smirks.

“Who knows”

And they’re both laughing after that.

*

Perrie and Louis are sitting on the school’s entrance and gossiping. That’s how Harry finds them a few minutes later.

“Are you ready?” He asks.

“Yup” Perrie says and stands up.

“Oh, I am not coming with you today guys. I’m going to eat with my grandma” Louis announces.

“Oh right,” Perrie groans. “Today is Wednesday.”

Wednesdays are the days Louis spends with his grandma after school.

She turns to Harry. “I’m sorry, I’m taking Lou to his grandma’s”

“No, Pez, you don’t have to,” Louis interrupts.

“I can go by myself”

“It’s not too far, I can take you” Perrie insists.

“Yeah, it’s not too far, so I can go alone”

She crosses her arms and stares at him.

“Are you sure, Lou?”

“Yes!” He half shouts.

Perrie rolls her eyes, annoyed at his tone.

“Okay then, your choice”

At that moment Louis’ phone goes off.

“Well lads, I’ll see you later”

“Alright” Perrie pecks his cheek. “Call me”

“Sure”

“Bye, Louis”

“Bye, Harry”

Perrie and Harry leave and Louis picks up his phone.

“Hello? Yes, I’m still in school. I’ll call you when I arrive to my grandma’s. Yes, mom. Love you, bye”

Louis stands up and takes his white cane out of his backpack. He begins walking with his cane extended in front of him.

It was supposed to be simple. Everybody leaves school on their own, so why couldn’t he? And then again, _the problem is not him_.

That’s why he stops on his tracks when he feels another presence near him.

Zayn shares a glance with Niall and his friends over Louis’ shoulder and as he begins walking again, feeling the floor with his cane, they walk silently in front, behind and all around him, mocking him with their hands.

It isn’t until Louis trips and falls face down to the floor that he realizes what just happened.

“Lou! Lou, are you okay?” Niall asks, fake concern evident on his voice, and helps him up with one hand.

“Leave me alone!” Louis yells.

Louis pushes him away and continues walking as fast as he can to get away from Zayn’s group.

Eleanor, who watched him fall from afar, approaches him.

“Lou, are you okay?” She puts a hand on his shoulder and he flinches.

“I’m fine” Louis pushes her away.

“Are you sure? I can take you to the nursing”

“I said I’m fine, Eleanor” He snaps and leaves.

“You are all a bunch of jerks!” Eleanor shouts and leaves them behind.

*

“Hello?” Jay answers her phone, worry evident on her voice.

“Hi mom. No, nothing yet. Are you sure he didn’t tell you where he was going? No, Perrie doesn’t know either”

Mark exhales and sits in one of the chairs on the dining room.

Louis left his grandma’s house hours ago and he still hasn’t come back. He hasn’t called and he is not picking up his phone. Jay already called Perrie and she doesn’t know where he is. Mark and Jay can’t stop thinking about the worst case scenarios and saying that they are worried would be an understatement.

“No, stay there,” Jay tells her mom. “He could come back and find nobody. Yeah, it’s better that way. I’m going to hang up now, he may call. Bye, mom”

Jay hangs up the phone.

“She doesn’t know anything” Jay informs Mark.

Suddenly, the door opens.

“Louis!” Jay shouts.

“Mom? What’s wrong?” Louis asks, startled by her tone.

“Where the hell were you, Louis?” Jay exclaims.

He shrugs and closes the door.

“Somewhere”

“Somewhere?” Jay huffs. “Didn’t you think about calling your mother and tell her you wouldn’t be home yet?”

Louis pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Oh, relax, mom”

“Lou,” Jay grabs his arm. “Do you know what time is it? And you out there in the night, when it’s dark”

Louis laughs humorless.

“Mom, it’s always dark for me,” He drops her hand. “You don’t need to be so apprehensive”

Jay sighs loudly.

“Why didn’t you pick up your phone!?” She grabs his arm again.

“Mom, I’m sorry!” Louis shouts and pulls his arm from her tight grip. “It was in my backpack. Plus I think I’m old enough not to tell you what I do all the time”

He begins walking to his room but his father’s chest stops him on his tracks.

“Louis, you still have a lot to tell us” Mark says sternly.

Louis groans.

“What, dad? You too now? Can’t I give a walk without being watched?”

“Watched?” Jay scoffs.

“You disappear for one hour and you expect us to be okay?”

“Mom, ask anyone in my class if their parents would get mad for something like this”

“Louis, you know it’s different with you!” Jay shouts.

“Why!? Why does it have to be different!? Why can’t you try to make me feel normal?” Louis shouts back.

The awkward silence that follows his statement is so heavy that he can’t stand it anymore, and makes a quick walk to his room.

“Louis,” Jay’s voice makes him stop. “Your grandma said you hurt yourself”

“It’s nothing, mom. It was a scratch, can I take a shower now, or do you want to help me with that too?” He responds annoyed and closes the door to his room.

“Louis…”

“Let him go, Jay” She sighs, and the argument is over.

*

“So, what can I do for you guys?” The receptionist asks.

Perrie and Louis are sitting in front of her and she turns to them with a warming smile.

“I was thinking about foreign exchange but I need some information” Perrie says.

“Well, I need to talk to your parents first,” Louis’ face falls.

“and then we can explain how it works to you”

“Mmm, well, thanks anyways”

“You’re welcome” Perrie smiles and is about to stand up when Louis speaks.

“Hold on, just… Could you maybe tell us a bit about it? Just so we don’t waste time”

Perrie huffs and crosses her arms over her stomach.

“Do you want to go on exchange too?”

“Maybe” He admits.

“Well, I’ll give you some pamphlets so you can read about it and tell your parents. Just one minute”

Perrie and Louis smile and the receptionist leaves. Louis holds Perrie’s elbow until the receptionist is back and Perrie rolls her eyes.

“There you go” She hands the pamphlets to both Perrie and Louis.

“Thank you” Perrie says.

“You’re welcome” She responds using a soft tone.

“Well, I guess we’ll come back with our parents then”

Perrie says and stands up, ready to leave. She stops on her tracks when Louis speaks again.

“Wait, just one more question. Do you think it’d be difficult for me to go on exchange? You know, cause I’m blind and all…” Louis asks.

There is a brief awkward silence and the receptionist shares a worried look with Perrie.

“Well, to be honest with you, we haven’t had a blind student who wanted to try exchange before, but it’s just about finding a family who is prepared to receive you”

Perrie rolls her eyes. Can’t he just drop it?

“Let’s do something,” The receptionist says. “Give me your phone number, I’m going to look up for a family and I’ll call you when I have news, alright?”

Louis smiles. “Alright”

“What’s your number?”

“It’s 948-3709”

She types it on her phone and Perrie checks her nails, annoyed.

“Alright, that’s it then”

“Thank you very much” Perrie says and pats Louis’ shoulder so they can finally leave.

“You’re welcome” She responds.

And as they turn around, she can’t help but stare at Louis with a sad smile.

*

Louis is fidgeting with his fingers on his grandma’s living room.

It’s a Wednesday, and as usual, he is having lunch with her. She emerges from the kitchen and he stops playing with his fingers.

“Would you like something else? Dessert? Coffee?” She asks.

“No, thanks grandma.” He sighs. “Grandma?”

“Hm?” “How old was my mom when I was born?”

Her eyebrows knit in concentration.

“I think she was 22… No, 23” She smiles. “They got married so young, and you were born soon too”

“Did she date other guys before my dad?” He asks.

His grandma walks to him, removes his feet from her couch and sits next to him.

“No, he was her first boyfriend” She pats his knee. “They made a lot of things together”

Louis smiles fondly.

“Did she leave home when they got married?”

“Yeah,” She replies. “Why?”

“I was thinking about that the other day”

“About what? Having kids?”

“No,” His eyebrows furrow and he laughs. “About leaving home”

His grandma raises an eyebrow disconcerted, and then just shrugs.

“And how are you planning to sustain yourself?” Louis shrugs.

“I’d have a job, everybody does,” He chuckles. “There is a guy on my school who is a waiter in his dad’s restaurant”

His grandma sighs.

“Don’t you think it’s a little too soon to think about that, Lou?”

Louis’ face falls and he sighs.

*

Louis and Perrie are lying on their stomachs on the edge of the pool, tracing patterns on the water with their fingers, as usual.

Harry is sitting next to Louis while talking on the phone. They have become close friends and now Harry spends most of his time with them. They were talking about stupid things until they heard his phone and he picked it up.

“Alright, bye” Harry hangs up and lies down on his back again.

“Who was it? Your girlfriend?” Perrie asks.

Harry chuckles. “It was my dad”

Perrie groans. “Geez, do your parents worry as much as Louis’?”

“Hey!” Louis protests.

Harry smiles. “It’s just my dad, actually. My mom died when I was a child”

There is an awkward silence after that. All they can feel is the sun burning their skins, Harry’s toned stomach, Louis’ shirtless back, and Perrie’s legs, and suddenly Perrie breaks the silence.

“So it’s just the two of you?”

“I have an older brother”

“Does he live with you?” Louis asks.

“No, he stayed in London”

“But, are you guys alright?”

“Kind of”

“Why kind of?” He asks.

Harry rubs his stomach and sighs.

“We are too different, you know? He is an engineer, just thinks about numbers. I love reading, he hates it. At least on musical taste we are similar”

Perrie can feel the sun burning her back and it forces her to roll over on her stomach.

“Did you know that Louis only listens to classical music?” She says.

“Really?” Harry smiles.

“Yeah”

Harry rolls over and lies on his stomach to face her, holding his weight with his arms.

“I always wanted to learn about classical music,” Harry says. “I just wasn’t ever patient enough”

Louis scoffs. “How is that possible? That’s the best music ever!”

Harry and Perrie laugh in unison.

“Oh come on, don’t exaggerate”

“But I’m honest!” Louis insists.

“Why do you like it so much?” Harry asks with a fond smile.

He has never met anyone who is so passionate about classical music and Louis seems to really enjoy it. Besides, loves to hear Louis talking, and there is nothing weird about that. Definitely not.

“Because of my grandma,” Louis answers. “Since I was a little boy she told me that in order to understand something, you have to begin by the classic first”

Harry nods in understanding.

“The thing is,” Perrie interrupts. “Lou started with the classic and got stuck there”

“Jerk” Louis says and they all laugh.

“Maybe you could give me some lessons later?” Harry asks.

Louis smiles. Did Harry really want to spend more time with him?

“Alright” He says.

Perrie rolls her eyes.

“Great, just what I needed, Beethoven and Mozart together”

They laugh again and Harry looks down, biting his lip.

He is content, that’s the word to describe it. He was scared when he moved from London to Manchester. He had made a life there, he had his friends, his school, his family, his whole life was established in London, so saying he was scared when his dad decided it would be the best to move to Manchester for high school wouldn’t even begin to cover it.

Harry has never been the most outgoing person, always preferring to stay home reading a good book or riding his bicycle for a while. He was never the easiest person to get along with and the fact that Perrie and Louis had accepted him so easily in their lives made him feel content, excited, happy. He never thought he’d made friends so easily and as quick as he did, and now he’s hanging out with the most amazing people and he couldn’t be more thankful.

When a time has passed and it gets darker, Harry breaks the comfortable silence that had settled between them.

“It’s getting late, I should go home”

“So soon?” Perrie asks, brows furrowed.

“I should go too, actually” Louis says.

“Alright” They all stand up and gather their stuff.

“Let me change and I’ll take you home” Perrie says.

“Um,” Harry interrupts. “If you want to, I can take him home so you don’t have to leave and then come back”

“Oh no, it’s really close” She insists.

“Pez, my house is on the way to Harry’s, it’s easier that way” Louis says.

“Way easier” Harry adds.

Perrie scoffs and crosses her arms over her stomach. Yes, they were making things easier for her, but she is Louis’ best friend and so what if _she_ wants to take _him_ home? She was upset, and the fact that Louis seemed to trust Harry so easily when it took her years for Louis to trust her enough to take him home wasn’t helping at all.

“Whatever”

“Alright, let’s go” Harry says awkwardly.

Louis grabs Harry’s arm and they leave Perrie’s house.

*

They are walking to Louis’ house and Harry is telling him stories about his life in London. His family, his brother, his friends, how good his mother’s food was, how his grandma cried when he told her he was moving to Manchester, how he worked on a bakery on summer in order to get her the platinum collar she wanted, how school was as boring as it is here, and so many other stories and Louis is fascinated.

He hasn’t been outside Manchester ever and listening to Harry’s anecdotes about London just increased his need to leave. The exchange idea didn’t cross his mind until he had more fights than usual with his parents, but now that he is listening to Harry he realizes that there are a million other reasons to leave besides being independent, the world is huge and he wants to meet as many places as he can before he gets too old to be able to walk without extra help.

“It’s one and a half hours from Manchester, I think” Harry says, talking about his favorite uncle’s home.

“Oh, it’s not so far, then. One and a half is basically close” Louis says.

Louis’ grip suddenly tightens on Harry’s arm and that’s when Harry notices he stepped on the sidewalk and almost trips over.

“Fuck, I’m sorry!” Harry says apologetically. “I forgot the step”

“Oh don’t worry, it’s fine” Louis giggles.

He takes his white cane out of his backpack and Harry mentally face palms himself.

“Just let me know about the next one, yeah?”

“I’m really sorry, Lou”

“It’s okay, H” Louis squeezes his arm and smiles.

Harry sighs and they keep walking. Louis asks more about London because really, Harry doesn’t need to feel so bad about a meaningless incident. Harry starts talking again and the moment is forgotten.

*

The next day on school, they all are as bored as always. The teacher is writing things on the board that nobody cares about and they’re all stuck taking notes.

Perrie moved her desk next to Louis’ so she could tell him easier what the teacher was writing on the board and he could type it on his Perkins.

_Tap, tap, tap. Ding!_

“Alright lads” Mrs. Audi says.

“In order to learn about Greece, I want you to make a project. With a partner”

Perrie smiles and grabs Louis’ arm excitedly. He smiles and nods just as excited.

“But,” Mrs. Audi continues. “You must be paired up with someone from the same gender, boys with boys, girls with girls”

Perrie scoffs and drops Louis’ arm. He sighs.

“Girl will talk about Athens, boys will talk about Sparta. Alright, pair up now, I need yours and your partner’s names”

Everybody begins looking for a partner and Perrie groans. She moves her desk back to its place and sighs. Was this really necessary? It’s freaking 21th century, teachers need to update.

“Can we be a couple of three?” Niall asks.

“Ask you math’s teacher” Mrs. Audi says and everybody laughs.

Perrie feels a tap on her shoulder at the same time she notices Harry whispering to Louis’ ear.

“Can I be your partner?”

A girl named Jesy asks Perrie. She is nice, but Perrie is not in a good mood, so she just shrugs. Louis has always been his partner and now Harry is taking him away from her, again. She is frustrated.

Meanwhile, Harry and Louis exchange smiles and a knock their fists.

*

When school finished, Perrie left to the library with Jesy, who wanted to start the project there, and Harry and Louis left school together.

They were now sitting in front of each other in a table for two in a local restaurant named Joe Kool’s. They were starving after their last class and Perrie, who usually brought extra food for them, had left with Jesy to work on their project, so they decided to have a snack before starting with their assignment.

“Have you watched that video of a cat?” Harry snorts while speaking. “The cat gets stuck in the toilet and…”

Louis raises an eyebrow and Harry, again, face palms himself.

He actually face palms himself this time though.

“I’m sorry” He says, biting his lip.

“No problem” Louis smiles mischievously.

This is too funny. When Perrie first approached him on kindergarten, she had asked him if he liked the blue or the pink dress for her doll. He had cried, she had cried, the teacher had calmed them down and slowly explained Perrie why Louis was crying. They became friends after that. So really, Louis didn’t mind when people said things like this to him, and the fact that Harry was taking it so seriously made him want to burst out laughing until he couldn’t breathe anymore.

“Do people ask you stupid questions like I just did?”

Louis giggles because _yes_ , they do, and he’s okay with that.

“Sometimes” He admits.

There is a brief silence afterwards.

Harry bites his lip and stares at Louis. It’s so weird. When he is with Louis, he doesn’t see the blind boy that everybody sees, he just sees Louis, his friend Louis, not the fragile boy people say he is. He is just like anybody else. So what if he is blind? That shouldn’t matter to anyone, he is as funny and as good as anybody else, probably even more, and people still decide to treat him like garbage. He doesn’t see Louis as a fragile boy. Harry thinks Louis is the strongest person he has ever met and he admires him a lot for that.

And he is not just strong, he is funny, mischievous, and beautiful. He is so beautiful and Harry just wants to spend more time with him, get to know him better and be as good as he is. And again, there is nothing weird about that. Nope, definitely not.

Friends want to spend time with their friends.

That’s normal.

“Have you always been like this, Lou?”

Harry breaks the silence and Louis answers his question, keeping his mischievous smile on his face.

“Yeah, since I was born” Harry smirks.

“So you have never seen Perrie’s face?”

Louis’ face falls and he sighs. “No, never”

A waitress comes to their table and sets their drinks in front of them. Harry notices she misplaces Louis’ drink in front of him, so he quickly places it in front of Louis’ and takes his instead. She places their food in front of them, Harry thanks her and she leaves.

Louis touches the table with his fingertips to find his drink and accidentally hits it with his wrist, almost dropping it. He places it on his left side and grabs his sandwich instead. Harry grabs his hamburger and gives a small bite before speaking again.

“Damn, I so don’t want to start this project”

“Tell me” Harry gives a gulp of his orange juice.

“We should go to the theatre!” Harry suggests.

“The theatre?” Louis asks, right eyebrow arched.

Harry face palms himself again and chuckles awkwardly.

“I’m sorry, Lou,” He says between giggles. “I promise you I’ll get used to it”

Louis sips from his straw and thinks that maybe they should go. It couldn’t be that bad, could it?

*

So they decide to go to the theatre.

They picked a fictional movie that has been in the hoarding probably for as long as Louis has been blind. Maybe even more. He can’t say much about it since, you know, he is blind, but the audio is pretty bad, so he supposes it’s an old movie.

His thoughts are broken when he hears Harry laughing at something he saw on the screen.

“What is it?” He asks.

“The giant robot destroyed the church” Harry whispers on his ear.

“…Now what?” Louis asks after a while.

“Now he has the boyfriend and girlfriend in each hand” Harry says, trying to hold his laugh.

The sound of a glass breaking startles them and they both jump.

“What was that?” Louis asks, wide eyed.

“He crushed the boy” Harry replies, biting his lip to stop a chuckle from escaping his lips.

“Is he dead?”

“Yeah”

They laugh because really, they picked the most ridiculous movie ever.

“The girlfriend threw the bouquet to his face” Harry whispers.

They laugh again.

“Shhh”

Someone in the front row yells.

They both fall silent and then laugh discreetly.

*

Harry takes Louis’ home when the movie is over, and if Louis grabs his arm a little bit tighter then well, none of them comment on it.

Harry unlocks his door for him and gives him his keys back.

“Bye, Harry”

“Bye, Lou”

Harry squeezes his arm, Louis smiles and gets inside.

Harry waits until he is safely inside and keeps walking down the street.

*

“So, you won’t talk to us ever again?” Jay asks.

They’re having dinner together like any other day and Louis still hasn’t uttered a word. Louis raises an eyebrow and brings some food to his mouth, not acknowledging her existence at all.

“Louis…” Jay warns.

“Hm?” He asks, unaffected.

“Louis, you know you had to tell us where you were…” Louis exhales loudly.

“And you know you exaggerated, right?”

“We were worried, Lou Lou” Mark explains.

“You’re always worried,” He huffs. “I can bet you that if there was a camp, you wouldn’t let me go”

“What do you mean?” Jay asks, brows knit together in confusion.

“What camp?” Mark asks.

“They’re planning a camp in school and I was scared to tell you because I knew you would say no” He admits.

Jay breaks the awkward silence.

“Well, I just have to call the school and ask about it” Louis groans.

“See? Everything is a huge drama here!”

“Lou, it’s a camp. We can’t let you go without knowing anything” Mark adds.

“Dad, it’s not just about camp. I can’t ever stay home alone, I have to inform you about every step I take and…”

“Hey there, didn’t we agree you could stay home alone now?” Mark asks.

“Still, do you know how embarrassing it is to be treated like this?” Louis whines and his parents share a worried glance. “If you call the school, everybody will know”

“What do you suggest, then?”

“To let me go, and that’s it”

“I’m sorry Lou, but we can’t do that” Jay says sternly.

“This is so embarrassing. I’m not 5 anymore!”

“Well, I’m sorry, but I am going to call the school”

Louis sighs and continues eating. There is no way to talk to his parents. They just don’t understand. Why can’t they just say yes and drop it?

He needs to leave as soon as possible.

*

“So, how was it yesterday? Did you finish the project?”

Perrie asks while playing with Louis’ hair. Louis is lying on her thighs and she is resting her back against the wall.

“Did Harry say something about me?” Louis chuckles.

“No, he didn’t say anything, Pez. And we didn’t do the project. We went to the theatre”

Perrie stops playing with his hair midway.

“The theatre?”

“Yeah. Harry wanted to go so we went”

She scoffs and looks up to the sky. They went to the theater. They went to the theater together. They went to the theater together and without her. They didn’t even call her to let her know about their plans, they just went and totally forgot about her, again. What the hell?

“Oh come on Lou, stand up, my leg hurts”

She complains and Louis sits. She crosses her arms above her chest and an awkward silence settles between them. Louis scratches his arm and stays silent until Perrie speaks again.

“I can’t believe you went to the theatre without me!” She shrieks.

“But Pez, we never go to the theatre” Louis tries to fight back.

“So why didn’t you call me?”

“I’m sorry Pez,” Louis sighs.

“We didn’t think it through. We just decided to go and did it” She huffs and the argument is over.

*

Harry and Louis decided to goto Louis’ house to get started on their project about Sparta.

Louis was sitting on his white bean bag chair with his left leg over his right knee, working as support for the Sociology book he was reading. In Braille, of course. On the other hand, Harry was sitting on Louis’ swivel chair in front of his desk, taking notes from another book.

Harry glances at Louis from the corner of his eye and smiles. He then searches for his iPod on his jeans and when he finds it, he unlocks it and places it on Louis’ iPod dock. He presses play and a familiar melody begins to run.

Louis raises an eyebrow and smiles.

“What is that, Harry?”

“They’re Belle & Sebastian, a band I love. Do you know them?”

Louis snorts. “No”

_I could hang about and burn my fingers_

“My brother loved this song” Harry explains.

_I’ve been hanging out here waiting for something to start_

“When I still lived in London we shared a room and he played this CD till he fell asleep, but he never made it to the end” Harry chuckles and Louis smiles.

_You think I’m faultless to a ‘T’_

“So I stayed listening to it” Harry finishes.

_My manner set impeccably_

“Well” Louis says. “They are not Tchaikovsky, but they are good”

Harry smiles. It was so easy to spend time with Louis.

_But underneath I am the same as you_

Louis’ phone goes off and Harry presses Stop on the iPod.

“Hello? Pez! How’s the library? What? Weren’t you going to work on the project with Jesy?” Louis chuckles. “We are. Alright, I’ll call you. Kisses, bye!”

“If we are tired, we can go to Perrie’s to swim for a bit” Louis says and hangs up his phone.

“Yeah, and we can also get an F in the project” Harry smirks and makes Louis laugh.

Louis keeps reading.

Harry grabs his phone and dials Louis’ number. He gets up from the chair and a classical melody begins playing. Louis recognizes it as his phone and frowns. Is that Harry’s tone?

“That’s weird” He says as he grabs his phone and answers the call. “Hello?”

“Um, hello, Vivaldi?” Harry answers with a rough voice.

Louis chuckles and Harry sits next to him.

“Jerk!” They both laugh.

“Why did you call me?” Louis asks amused.

“I wanted to know what tone you use for me” Harry replied nonchalantly.

“Well, you’re wrong. That’s not Vivaldi, that’s Bach” Harry snorts.

“I don’t want to be Bach…” He says in a baby voice.

Louis smiles. “What do you want to be then?”

“Belle & Sebastian” Louis snorts.

“Alright”

“Great, now you can dance when I call you!” Louis laughs and Harry stands up to press Replay.

There’s too much love by Belle & Sebastian begins playing and Louis follows the rhythm patting his knees with his hands.

“More cheerful than Bach, uh Lou?” Harry says and Louis giggles.

Harry begins dancing slowly with his eyes closed.

“Come dance with me, Lou!”

_I could hang about and burn my fingers_

Louis scoffs. “No, I don’t dance”

_I’ve been hanging out here waiting for something to start_

“Come on” Harry sits next to Louis again. “See? Your fingers are dancing”

“Yeah, but I don’t know how to dance”

_You think I’m faultless to a ‘T’_

Harry snorts. “Louis, there are good and bad dancers, but we all know how to dance”

_My manner set impeccably_

“Another day, alright?”

“Boring!” Harry stands up, closes his eyes and begins dancing again.

_But underneath I am the same as you_

Louis sighs. Does he always have to ruin everything?

He stands up and waits for Harry to acknowledge his presence.

_I could dance all night like I’m a soul boy_

Harry turns around and smiles when he sees Louis agreed to dance.

“Yes!” He chuckles and starts dancing in front of Louis, who is just standing awkwardly in front of him.

_But you know I’d rather drag myself across the dance floor_

“Oh come on, you can dance!” Harry exclaims and grabs Louis’ shoulder, making him move from side to side.

_I feel like dancing on my own_

_Where no one knows me and where I_

“Feel free to move your feet too” Harry reminds him. Louis chuckles and begins moving his feet.

_Can cause offense just by the way I look_

Harry allows Louis to lead the dance and moves his feet the same way Louis does.

Right, right, left, right. Left, right, right.

_And when I come to blows_

“I must look so ridiculous, Harry” Harry snorts.

“Nope, now you can even go to a club”

_When I am numbering my foes_

Louis laughs and stops dancing.

“Shut up, Harry!” He sits on his bed and Harry turns around, following him with his gaze.

_Just hope that you are on my side my dear_

Louis grabs one of his pillows, places it against the wall and lays his head on it.

“Well, your first lesson was okay” Harry says and sits next to him on the bed.

_But it’s best to finish as it started_

_With my face down just staring at the brown Formica_

They follow the pattern of the song patting their thighs with their hands and smiling fondly at each other.

And in Harry’s opinion, this was the best days of his life.

_It’s safer not to look around_

_I can’t hide my feelings from you now_

*

“I swear I can’t stand one more second in that stupid library!” Perrie whines.

She spent all day yesterday on the library with Jesy and she didn’t want to do it again today. Yes, she was nice, she wasn’t an ass like everyone on their classroom, but there’s so much you can talk about TV shows until your head explodes and you just want to die. She reached that point pretty fast.

“What is your level of laziness right now?” Louis asks.

“Ten” She sighs. “Actually, I think I’m over 10 now. I’m on level homicide”

Louis chuckles. “Relax, Pez. We’ll make the next project together, okay?”

Perrie blushes and smiles. Harry appears behind them a few seconds later.

“Can we go now?”

“No, please don’t go! Stay a bit longer!” Perrie begs.

“I’m sorry, Pez” Louis says.

Perrie exhales in defeat. Louis stands up and grabs Harry’s left arm.

“Um, no…”

He takes Harry by his shoulder and moves him so he is standing on his left side and then grabs his right arm.

“Good”

Harry rolls his eyes and smiles fondly at him. Louis gets his white cane out of his backpack and Perrie’s brows furrow. Why does he need his cane if Harry is taking him home?

“Bye, Pez” Perrie sighs.

“Bye, boys!” She exclaims in a Romeo & Juliet dramatic voice.

*

Louis and Harry are sitting in front of Louis’ desk and Harry is tracing Louis’ book with his fingers.

He scoffs. “That’s impossible Lou!”

“Harry, it’s easy.” He whines.

He has been trying to teach Harry how to read in Braille for 30 minutes and he just can’t seem to get it right.

“Here…” Louis grabs his hand and Harry has to force himself not to scream. “The locomotive dropped a…”

Harry snorts. “How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

Louis shrugs. “You’ll have to trust me”

Harry rolls his eyes. “Alright”

“Dropped a” Louis continues and Harry chuckles. “…strong, that here is a…”

“Impossible! I give up!” Harry exclaims.

Louis groans, he was getting frustrated.

“Harry, it’s not impossible”

“It will take too long for me to learn” Harry whines.

Louis scoffs.

“Impossible? Do you know what’s impossible? Me learning to ride a bicycle, Harry, that’s impossible” Harry snorts. “Not this”

Louis’ door is suddenly opened and he drops Harry’s hand.

“Oh, hi Harry” Jay greets.

“Hi” He shows his dimpled smile.

“Do you want juice or something?”

“No, thanks”

“Thanks mom, we’ll be there in a minute” Louis says exasperated.

“Alright, I’ll be in the living room” They nod and Jay leaves.

“You should read Braille with your eyes.” Louis says. “It’s like the alphabet, but Braille”

Harry takes his jacket off and places it on the armrest of Louis’ chair. Louis takes a piece of sheet from his book and hands it over to Harry.

“Here, look…”

“What’s this?”

“The Braille alphabet”

Harry smiles. Louis really wants him to learn Braille. He places it on one of the pockets of his backpack and makes sure it doesn’t get wrinkles when he zips it.

Harry’s eyes suddenly widen.

“Louis! Tonight is the eclipse! Do you wanna go see it?” He asks excited.

Louis raises his eyebrows.

Harry rolls his eyes.

“Of course, Harry, of course we’ll go and watch the eclipse” They burst out laughing.

Since that day in Joe Kool’s Harry hasn’t stopped messing up around him. They are used to it now. It has become their personal banter.

“I’m sorry” Harry sighs. “It’s just, my dad told me that there is a park near here and that it’s the perfect place to see it. I really wanted to go”

Louis shrugs. “Let’s do it then. What time is it?”

Harry bites his lip. “It’s really late. Like 1:30 am or something”

Louis sighs in defeat.

“Never mind, my mom would never let me go” Harry smirks.

“We could sneak out”

*

Harry approaches Louis’ house and finds him sitting on the sidewalk, biting his nails nervously.

“Lou” He whispers, “It’s me, come on”

Louis stands up and Harry grabs his hand to help him up. Louis blushes and sits behind Harry on the bicycle, holding both his shoulders tight and they leave.

The park is empty when they arrive. _The perks of the eclipse beginning at 1:30 am_ , Louis thinks.

Harry parks his bicycle behind a tree and guides Louis to the grass. Louis sits Indian style and Harry lies down on his back with his arms behind his head. He sighs and Louis pulls up bits of long grass.

“What’s so good about an eclipse anyways?” Louis asks.

“Oh, um, watching the moon disappear from the sky?”

“Disappear?”

Harry sits and hugs his knees to his chest, placing his arms around himself.

“I don’t know, disappearing… It stops being illuminated”

“… Which means?” Harry bites his lip. He didn’t know how to explain this to Louis.

“Um… It’s like when you’re sunbathing, and you feel a small burn in one side of your face” Harry strokes his cheek and Louis flinches. “Well, that side is illuminated by the sun”

“And what does that have to do with an eclipse?”

“Um…” Harry looks around and stands up. “Hold on”

Harry stands up and walks to his bicycle. He finds three small rocks and takes them back to Louis. He sits in front of him Indian style.

“Give me your hand” Harry grabs his hand and Louis swears he doesn’t mind his cold fingers. Not at all.

“This is the sun,” Harry helps him touch the first rock.

“This is Earth,” He helps him touch the second rock, which is situated a bit below the first one.

“And this is the moon,” Louis touches the last rock, which is leveled with the first one.

“The sun illuminates both the Earth and the moon, just like it illuminates your face” Louis chuckles. Harry was such an idiot.

“Like you can see, these rocks are forming a triangle. An eclipse happens when the sun, Earth and moon are all lined up”

He helps Louis move the second rock so it’s lined up with the rest, forming a straight line.

“And the light” – he helps Louis touch the first rock – “that illuminated the moon” – Louis touches the last rock – “is no longer there, and as we can only see what is illuminated, we can’t see the moon anymore” Louis nods in understanding.

“But it’s too fast and then Earth comes back to its site” – Harry helps Louis move the second rock back to its original site – “And we can see the moon again”

“Did you get it?” Harry asks with a fond smile on his face.

He hasn’t dropped his hands. Louis is not nervous, definitely not.

“I think so. It’s quite fun how you try to explain it”

“It does sound simple” Harry drops his hand and lies on his back again and sighs. Louis takes one of the rocks and plays with it for a while. They – well, Harry – watch the eclipse for a few minutes and then deem it suitable to leave.

Harry drives them back to Louis’ house on his bicycle, and if Louis holds him tighter and lets his cheek rest against his shoulder then well, Harry doesn’t complain so it’s okay.

Louis finds his door and is about to get inside when Harry talks to him.

“Hey, Louis!” “I forgot my jacket in your room, could you give it back to me tomorrow please?”

“Yeah, sure”

“Thanks” Louis unlocks his door and gets inside.

“See you, Lou!”

“See you, H” Louis smiles and gets inside.

If you asked Harry, he wouldn’t admit he stayed outside longer than necessary.

*

Louis closes his bedroom’s door silently. If his parents found out he was outside at 1:30 am he is sure some kind of war would start and he wasn’t in the mood to fight with them at freaking dawn.

He touches the wall until he finds his chair and finds Harry’s jacket in the armrest. He grabs it and surely but slowly brings it to his face. He takes it with both hands and allows Harry’s smell to invade all his senses. He sighs and begins to undress. First he takes his shirt off, then his jeans, and lastly his socks.

All the while, he can’t stop wondering to himself, what is going on? Tonight with Harry it felt different than any other time they have hung around. It almost felt liberating. Harry makes his thoughts spin and go into overdrive and he hasn’t ever felt this way with anyone before. He blames it on the fact that Harry is too distracted to actually treat him like everybody else does. Harry is always so honest and careless around Louis. He says what he thinks, shares what he is feeling with him and always includes him in every crazy idea he can imagine. Sneaking out to watch an eclipse that Louis won’t even be able to watch? Harry could have gone to the park by himself, he was the one with the bicycle anyways, he didn’t need Louis to go. But he asked him to go, he asked him to sneak out with him and he was so sweet when he explained Louis what an eclipse was.

He doesn’t treat him like the rest do, that’s the thing. Yes, he knows Louis is blind and yes, he knows Louis can’t do all the things he does, but that hasn’t stopped him from treating him the same way he would treat anyone else. He tells Louis about stupid videos he found on YouTube, he tells him about how stupid Zayn looks with his new lip piercing, he tells him about Perrie’s weird outfits, he talks to him about the stupidest things and yes, he does ask some stupid things sometimes like “ _remember how on Nemo when the jellyfish bit Dory_ …” or “ _what’s your favorite color in the rainbow?_ ” but when he realizes what he’s said, he just laughs and apologizes, making Louis laugh along. Anybody else would apologize and make it awkward, making him feel like shit. Harry is just too nice and good and Louis can’t comprehend why he has never felt this deep connection with anyone else before. What is so different about Harry?

He sits down on his bed and with both hands puts on Harry’s jacket without thinking it through. He lies down, puts the sheets over himself and closes his eyes. He places one of his arms over his mouth and breathes Harry’s smell in again, then sighs and gives his jacket a small peck. He slowly drags his other hand from his chest to his stomach and stops when he reaches the waistband of his underwear. He inhales and begins reaching down, slowly sliding his fingers under his boxers until he reaches his cock, and with no regrets, circles his fingers around himself, jacking himself off to the thoughts of soft skin, a rough voice and broad shoulders, and he keeps working on himself until he can’t feel anything but pure bliss, and finally falls asleep easily after that.

*

It’s a Wednesday, so naturally, Louis is sitting on his grandma’s dining room, waiting for her to finish her duties on the kitchen and join him.

His grandma comes back and serves come coffee on his cup.

“Grandma, how long have you and my grandpa been together?” His grandma hums.

“It’s been a long time. Let me see… ‘71” She counts the years with her fingers. “It’s been 42 years”

“That’s a long time” Louis smiles.

“Yeah” She laughs.

“Do you still love each other?” His grandma smiles fondly at him.

“Some days more than others” She admits.

“And how did you meet?”

“It was before arriving to Manchester” She begins to explain. “He was the driver of the bus I took for work. Actually, I could take the next bus, but I always arrived a bit earlier to take his”

Louis smiles fondly at her story.

“I remember how I was late one day and I was upset, so I ran to the bus station as fast as I could to see if I could still find him. And to my surprise, he was still there, waiting for me, he didn’t want to leave until I arrived” Louis chuckles and sips from his cup.

“People were yelling at him, it was a disaster. So when I arrived, nobody was happy”

They laugh and the sound of the bell ringing breaks their moment.

“Isn’t it too early for your mom to pick you up?”

“Oh no, that’s Harry. We are working on a project so I asked him to come here”

Louis quickly stands up and makes his way to the door.

His grandma raises an eyebrow and as she stares at her grandson walking faster than ever to the door, she smiles knowingly because if that’s not how she reacted when Louis’ grandfather went to pick her on for a date, then she doesn’t know what to compare it to.

*

They are sitting on one of the school’s gardens when Louis gets the call.

“Hello?” Louis picks up his phone and Perrie tries to pretend she is not paying attention to his conversation.

“Yeah, that’s me. Seriously?” He shrieks. “I’m sorry, they can’t. They’re on a trip right now” Louis sighs and Perrie raises an eyebrow.

“They come back next week. Should I call you back when they’re here? Great, thanks”

“Are you parents on a trip?”

“No, it was the receptionist from the exchanges agency. She said she found an agency that is specialized in blind people”

“Why did you lie then?”

She asks, confused as to why he would lie to her if he was the one who wanted to leave in the first place.

“I don’t know” He shrugs.

“Your mother would never let you” Perrie says nonchalantly.

“Well, thanks for the support, Pez” Louis snaps.

Perrie is about to apologize when suddenly Eleanor is sitting next to Louis.

“Hey, there!” Perrie rolls her eyes.

“Hey” She replies sharply.

“Have you guys seen Harry?”

“He went to the bathroom, why?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. Just wanted to talk to him”

Perrie nods, not really wanting to strike up on a conversation with her.

“He is cute, isn’t he, Pez?”

Perrie hums irritated. Can’t she just leave? She is so damn annoying.

“And those curls. So cute!” Perrie hums again.

Louis tenses and he can feel his cheeks turning from his natural tan to a red color. Why is Eleanor talking about Harry like that? Harry never even mentions her, so why does she insist?

“He is not from Manchester. Where is he from?”

“I think he comes from…”

“Oh, there he is!” Eleanor interrupts Perrie as soon as she spots him. “Bye!”

Eleanor leaves and Perrie huffs.

“She is a bitch, isn’t she?”

Louis hasn’t said a word and is trying to control his breathing. He doesn’t know why but he is upset for a reason.

“Oh great, she’s all over him again. She is so fake, pretending to be nice, talking to him, playing with his hair”

Perrie huffs and Louis is having a really hard time controlling his breathing.

“She touched his shoulder!” Louis exhales loudly.

“And now she is grabbing his hand. She doesn’t even know if he washed it”

Louis sighs and fiddles with his fingers. Perrie isn’t helping his mood at all. He can’t see so why does she have to describe everything Eleanor is doing and force him to imagine it on his head? Seriously, shut up.

“It sucks that she doesn’t even try to hide it, uh?” Louis hums.

*

“You know, I don’t really think you need the cane anymore” They stop walking and Louis nods.

He folds the white cane and places it back on his backpack. He grabs Harry’s arm for support and they resume their way.

“Did you hear Eleanor’s question on chemistry?” Louis laughs. “Such a shame, she’s so dumb”

Harry chuckles. “Yeah, poor girl”

“Poor girl?” Louis’ face falls. “But, she’s a bit boring, isn’t she?”

When Harry doesn’t respond, he insists.

“Do you like her?”

“I think she’s nice”

Louis falls silent and has a hard time not shoving him away and walking on his own.

“She even invited me to her party”

“What party?” Louis asks with disgust.

“Her moving out party. She has her house for herself this Friday so she’s throwing a party. She invited everyone”

“Oh. Sounds fun” Louis says even though _no_ , it doesn’t sound fun _at all_.

“Step!” Harry warns and prevents Louis from tripping on his face. “I’ll be the DJ”

“Why?”

“I like her, Lou, why don’t you?” Harry asks, a bit bewildered by Louis’ attitude towards Eleanor.

“It’s not that I don’t like her, it’s just, a party with everybody from school is the last event I’d like to attend” He half lies.

“It could be fun. People are different outside school”

“I doubt it”

“Well, aren’t you?”

Louis smiles and they keep walking silently.

*

“Should I close the door?” Harry asks.

They never really discussed it but since the first day it seems like Louis’ room is their official place to work on their project.

“Sure” Louis answers nonchalantly.

He sits on his couch and sighs. It really has been a long day. He is about to ask Harry if they should start when he hears his phone go off. He reaches for it and answers the call.

“Hey, Pez. Yeah, it’s me” Harry says.

He walks over to Louis and hands him his phone.

“It’s Perrie, she wants to talk to you” He takes Harry’s phone and brings it to his ear.

“Hi Pe,” His eyes widen and he begins palming his jeans.

“I’m sorry, I must have left it in my backpack,” He explains. “I’m home, working on the project”

Harry sits on his desk chair and gets his book out of his backpack.

“What? Weren’t you going to stay with Jesy? “I’m sorry, Pez” He sighs.

“Perrie?” “Pez?”

He hangs up and massages his forehead.

“What happened?”

“Perrie is angry cause we didn’t wait for her today”

He gives him his phone back and Harry’s eyebrows furrow.

“But she was working on her project with Jesy, wasn’t she?”

“Not today, apparently”

They sigh and shake their heads. Next day was going to be _really_ long.

*

School finished 20 minutes ago and they have been sitting for 20 minutes in the stairs outside the main entrance.

They are waiting for Perrie with the intention of apologizing for yesterday’s events. Harry watches her from afar when she gets out and he waves her over. He is about to stand up and help Louis up when Perrie walks past them. He looks down and tries not to get upset.

“Let’s go, Louis”

“Without Perrie? I don’t think so, she would kill us” Harry sighs.

“She just left without saying goodbye”

“Seriously?” Louis frowns.

“Seriously” He huffs.

“Let’s go then”

They stand up and Harry helps him up by his arm. Louis grips his arm tightly and Harry swings his backpack on his back. They begin walking silently and stop in their tracks when they hear a so familiar, annoying voice near them.

“Hey, Tomlinson!” Louis freezes.

“New boyfriend?”

He exhales loudly and gives him the finger. He can bother him as much as he wants, but he has no right to embarrass him in front of Harry.

“Whoa! That boy is good for you!” Zayn teases. “Makes you a man!”

His friends laugh loudly and Louis tightens his grip on Harry.

They leave school after that.

*

“It’s hot” Jay warns before Louis drinks from his cup.

“Thanks, mom”

They are sitting in an awkward silence. Things have been tense since their last fight and Louis doesn’t know how to approach their parents about the subject.

“I was thinking about going on exchange, what do you think?”

He decides to do it the sharp way. His parents stop midway.

“Do what, Lou?” Mark asks.

“Exchange. Some guys were talking about it the other day and I’d like to do it”

“Do you mean foreign exchange?” Jay asks.

“Yes”

“I hope you’re joking, Louis…” Louis groans.

“And there you go again…”

“I’m not doing anything”

“Tell us a bit more, son”

Mark says, trying to calm the tense atmosphere. Jay, however, doesn’t want to calm down, it’s the total opposite actually.

“Tell us more about what? Are you both mad? Louis won’t go and there is no discussion”

“But why not?” Louis whines.

“Why, Louis?”

“Others do it, why can’t I?”

“Even if we said yes, do you really think someone would accept a blind guy on their home?”

Oh.

Louis stands up and leaves.

Mark stares at Jay disapprovingly.

“Louis…” Mark calls.

He comes back a few minutes later with the pamphlets that the receptionist gave him and hands them to his parents. Jay grabs and inspects them.

“Where did you get this from?” She asks.

“School. There is a foreign exchange program in France and they are specialized on blind people”

“Let me see” Mark says and Jay hands them over.

“That’s their number, you can call them if you want”

He made Perrie read them to him a while ago. He wanted to be prepared to fight their parents if they said no.

“How is your French level? Good?” Louis asks sarcastically.

“We don’t discuss it, Louis. You are not going, period”

Louis huffs and storms away. Fuck his mom, seriously.

*

Louis can’t stop turning around.

He has been having nightmares all night. He can’t stop dreaming about Harry. And it wouldn’t matter, really, he has dreamed about him before, but not like this. His dreams with Harry usually involve both guys lying on their backs with their eyes to the sky, laughing about the dumbest things. And those are the dreams that he likes, the dreams that he wishes he had every night. Those dreams are perfect, it’s just the two of them, and everything is okay, they are okay. But tonight, in his dream Harry is surrounded by a lot of people, and Louis is stuck watching how Harry smiles, touches and kisses each one of them.

He needs it to stop. Why can’t he wake up? He just needs to open his eyes and calm down his breathing. He feels like he is being suffocated, like there isn’t enough oxygen in his room, and he needs this dream to stop.

It’s not until Eleanor’s face pops up on his dream that his eyes finally snap open. He sits on the edge of his bed and tries to calm his breathing. He then gets up and goes to the bathroom across the hallway. He touches everything with his hands until he finds the bathroom cabinet.

He tries to open it but to no avail, so he surrenders.

“Dad? Dad!”

Mark opens the door worriedly.

“What’s wrong, Lou? Are you alright?” Louis chuckles.

“Can you help me shave?” Mark smiles and opens the cabinet to take the razor and lotion out.

“Here” He places both the lotion and razor on Louis’ hand.

“Open the lotion” Louis uncaps and applies pressure on it, getting the soft liquid on his hand.

“Hold on! That’s enough” Mark stops him.

“Right, now spread it on your face”

Louis does as he’s told and Mark helps him on the other side of his face. Louis flinches and Mark laughs.

“Let me see…”

“Good, now wash your hands” Louis washes his hands while Mark covers the bottle.

“Put the razor in warm water, it’s easier that way” Mark advices.

Louis does and then Mark is grabbing his hand, helping him to begin shaving. There is a comfortable silence between them and Mark just observes his son. The exchange thing has been bugging him since Louis mentioned it, but he can’t fully agree with his wife. He doesn’t want to let Louis go either, it scares him to think what people could do to him, how they could hurt him, but at the same time, he understands why Louis wants to do it. He has been trapped all his life in Manchester, it’s normal that he wants to visit other places and feel free. He knows that’s what he wanted when he was his age. He understands, he really does.

Because if it’s hard for them having a blind son, he knows for Louis it’s a million times harder. And they are trying to make him feel normal, but as his parents, they just want to protect their son and shield him away from all the pain that he could experiment if he left.

He sighs and decides to bring it up.

“Lou, I thought about what you said about the exchange”

“Really?”

“Yes, but don’t talk while you’re shaving”

“Sorry”

“I am trying to understand why you want to leave. I think it’s normal that at your age you want to…”

Louis washes the razor and gets started on the other side of his face.

“I don’t know, meet other places, meet new people, make new friends. I don’t know, I think it’s normal. But I also think it’s normal to fight with your parents all the time” Louis chuckles a bit at that.

“I was like that too,” Mark confesses. “And I think, leaving the country to escape those fights, it’s just too radical. Do you understand?”

Louis stays quiet through his dad’s words.

“So… I don’t know, I was thinking about talking to your mother about it” Louis smiles fondly.

He has always gotten along better with his father than his mother.

“But first, I need to know that you’re leaving for the right reasons, alright Lou Lou?” Louis doesn’t respond.

“Alright?”

“Can I speak now?” He asks jokingly and Mark laughs.

“Alright, dad” Louis agrees.

Mark ruffles his hair and Louis shakes his head.

“What do you think?”

“Let me see…” He holds his chin with one hand. “Good job, son”

*

Friday night was probably the worst night of Louis’ life.

Why? Well, this is what happened.

**Friday Night**

Louis is sitting on the couch, absentmindedly fidgeting with his fingers while everybody is probably dancing, drinking and kissing around him.

Why did he attend this party again? He isn’t even sure he was invited. He just came over because Harry said he would come and he offered Louis a ride. He couldn’t say no to Harry, so agreed to come. And now Harry ran off to somewhere to play with the stupid music system and left him by himself.

He isn’t even sure if Perrie is here. If he knew she was, he would try to find her just so he wouldn’t be on his own all night. He sighs and prays for the hours to run faster.

Eleanor is walking in the middle of the dance floor, greeting everyone while showing off Pudding, her pug, and pretending to be a good host.

“Hey, you having fun?”

“Sure!” Niall answers and pats Pudding’s face.

“What’s his name?”

“Pudding” She smiles proudly.

“Hey Pudding! Have some, my friend” Zayn offers Pudding an alcohol bottle.

“No!” Eleanor shrieks. “He is a baby”

They laugh and she leaves them behind.

*

“Hey girl!”

Turns out Perrie is actually on the party and she is sitting by herself on one of the improvised stools on the bar, hiding from the rest of the world. She is not in the mood to talk to anyone and Eleanor is about to make it worse.

“Have you met Pudding already? Pudding, this is Perrie”

“Hey, Pudding” Perrie says, no excitement on her voice whatsoever.

“Come on, go dance! Are you gonna stay here all night?” Perrie fakes a friendly smile and Eleanor leaves.

*

She walks straight to the music system, trying to chat up Harry, again.

“Hi, DJ!”

“Hey!” He smiles showing off his dimples.

“Pudding wants a song” Harry laughs.

“Put him on his bed, please”

“You tired, Pudding?”

Harry holds him and puts him on his bed, situated below the table that held the system.

“He is a baby, sleeps early” She says and leaves them behind.

*

Lastly, she approaches Louis, who is still sitting on the couch by himself.

“Hey, Louis? Come dance! You look like Perrie sitting all by yourself”

Oh, so Perrie was here after all.

“In a while…”

Perrie watches the exchange from afar, rolls her eyes and leaves.

*

She left her stool. She was still angry with Louis and she didn’t want to spend the night watching him from afar. She’d rather come back home than watch him all night.

She is about to take one of the beers when she notices a group of her classmates laughing loudly in a corner. She walks up to them.

“What are you all hiding?”

“Nothing” One of them replies, snorting.

She arches an eyebrow and puts a hand on her hip.

“Seriously?”

“Um, we’ve got vodka and whisky. You want some?” She shrugs.

“Sure”

“Pure?” She nods.

They fill her glass with vodka and snicker. Was she crazy?

“Be careful” Perrie makes a face, raises her glass and leaves.

*

Harry is dancing by himself on the DJ area. He glances everywhere and his eyes finally spot Louis. He is awkwardly sitting on the couch by himself and Harry rolls his eyes.

He grabs his iPod and plugs it to the audio system. He presses play and starts to walk towards Louis. A familiar tune begins to play and Louis smiles. Harry is a dork.

Harry puts one hand on his knee, the other on his shoulder and leans over, whispering on his ear.

“Louis, let’s go dance”

There is no point in trying to change his mind, he would just drag him up and pull him to the middle of the dance floor if he said no, so Louis just sighs and stands up. Harry walks him until they are standing in a less crowded area of the dance floor.

“Eleanor, I set up a playlist for a while”

Louis mentally groans because _Eleanor_.

“Of course! Have fun DJ!”

“Louis? You finally on the dance floor?”

Oh, so she decided to acknowledge him. It must have hurt her taking her eyes off Harry.

“Weird, uh?”

She joins them on the dance floor and the three begin dancing. Was Louis the only one who felt awkward?

“Don’t forget your feet” Harry whispers on Louis’ ear.

Louis moves his feet and Harry smiles. He was just too cute.

“I’ll get something to drink, do you want something?” Harry asks.

“I’m coming with you”

“Oh no!” Eleanor says. “Now that you’re dancing, you’ll dance with me”

Harry smirks. He was sure Louis was going to kill him when they left.

“I’ll be right back”

Harry leaves and Louis has to force himself not to turn around and leave Eleanor standing there on her own.

“Louis, I actually wanted to talk to you about something”

And what’s new? You always talk to me only when you need something.

He was so tempted to say it.

“Right now?” He asks instead.

“Yes, it’s better now that we’re alone”

“Um, alright” He replies awkwardly.

“Has Harry ever said something about me?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, does he fancy me?”

“Um, no”

He was going to kill Harry.

He was.

*

Perrie is sitting on the breakfast bar. This is the third time she’s had her cup filled and the burning on her throat has almost disappeared.

“What’s up, Pez?”

Perrie rolls her eyes. Eleanor and Zayn probably planned pissing her the fuck off tonight.

“Should we kill our sexual tension from the last party?”

“Zayn, if I were to kill something, trust me, it wouldn’t be last party’s sexual tension”

“Oh, so that’s how things are now, uh?”

“Yes”

“Alright” Zayn rolls his eyes and turns around.

“Hey there, Romeo”

Zayn pats Harry’s shoulder and runs off to somewhere else. Harry approaches Perrie and rests his arms on the breakfast bar.

“Hey, Pez. What are you drinking?”

“I don’t know” Harry snorts.

“Really?”

Perrie shrugs. He is the last person she wants to talk to right now.

“It’s vodka or whisky, I don’t know”

“Can I have some?”

She rolls her eyes and hands him her glass. Harry gulps and cringes at the burning on his throat.

“Vodka” He confirms.

*

“You could help me though, right? Give him some clues”

“Sure”

Eleanor hasn’t stopped bugging him with questions about Harry and he just wants her to _leave_.

“Really?”

She kisses his cheek and he tries to keep a neutral face.

Honestly, he tried.

“Thank you so much Lou, you’re the best”

The joy is evident on her voice and Louis just wants to strangle her.

“Alright, I’ll check how the party is going”

She finally leaves and Louis stands awkwardly there, trying to find the couch. Suddenly the music stops and people complain to whoever decided to turn the music system off.

“Oh come on! It’s time for the bottle game!”

People clap and Louis groans. It had to be Zayn because who else?

“Now now, make a circle!”

People begin to sit on the floor and Louis turns the other way, intend on leaving as soon as possible.

“What’s wrong, Lou? Come play with us!” Niall shouts.

“Um, no thanks”

He tries to walk past him until Zayn gets on his way.

“Come on, it’ll be fun” He says.

“No, thanks”

“Come on! Or do you want to be a virgin of kisses forever?”

“You are a dick, Zayn. I don’t have a problem!” Louis snaps.

“Prove it then, and play”

He should say no. He knew he had to say no.

But honestly, Zayn’s arrogant attitude was pissing him off and he didn’t have anything to be afraid of. Besides, it would be just a kiss, what could go wrong?

“Alright, I will!”

“Let’s sit then” Niall says.

“Sit here” Louis sits and Zayn smirks.

“Okay, I’ll start. Whoever the bottle lands on will have to kiss me”

People laugh and Louis starts to regret ever agreeing to play this stupid game.

“Cool” Zayn rolls the bottle and the game starts.

*

“Shouldn’t you be taking care of your friend?” She snaps.

Harry has been sitting with her since he tried her Vodka and honestly, she just wants him to leave her alone.

“He’ll be fine” Perrie sips from her red cup. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you”

“About what? He doesn’t like me anymore, it’s fine” She shrugs.

Harry snorts. She is the worst liar ever.

“That’s stupid, Perrie”

“It’s the truth, plus, he doesn’t talk to me anymore, he doesn’t care”

“Wait, weren’t you the one who stopped answering his calls? Because he thinks _you_ don’t want to talk to him anymore” Harry points out.

She rolls her eyes.

“Everything is your fault” Harry scoffs.

“My fault? Why?”

“Everything was great before you came here. Now I don’t even talk to my best friend anymore”

Harry sighs and looks down.

*

“WOAAAH” Zayn exclaims after he and the girl finish snogging.

Everyone in the circle claps and he laughs.

“Alright, it’s your turn now, Matheus”

The game goes on and Louis just sits awkwardly while people cheer and clap.

*

“…There’s also that one time you guys went to the theatre and I wasn’t invited”

Harry drinks from his cup. Perrie has been trying to explain him why she feels left out and he is just starting to realize how many times he has fucked up.

“Pez, it wasn’t our intention” Perrie scoffs and drinks from her cup. “He didn’t make it on purpose”

“Of course he did!” She insists.

“He doesn’t even want me to take him home now, everything is you, you, you”

Harry doesn’t say anything back and she scoffs.

“See? You can’t even say anything back!”

She rolls her eyes when Harry doesn’t reply and stands up, making her way to the bathroom and getting as far as she can from him. Harry finishes his drink and follows her, locking the door when he hears her throwing up.

*

“Alright, ladies and gentlemen” Zayn begins. “This is the moment we were waiting for. I think we all are here for her. Am I or am I not right, Marta?”

Marta stares at him dumbly.

“What? Me?” “No, Thaddeus”

He replies sarcastically and everybody laughs.

“You’re a dick” Marta says.

She rolls the bottle and Zayn makes it stop on Louis. Everybody cheers and if looks could kill Zayn is sure Marta would bury him three feet underground.

“Hey Louis!” Louis tenses.

“Nice shot, Marta! Come on, stand up”

She gives him a look and Zayn dismisses her with his hands.

“Niall, help him up”

“Come on” Niall helps Louis stand up.

Well, fuck.

*

They are sitting in front of each other in the small bathroom.

After Perrie emptied her stomach they just weren’t in the mood to come back to the party and Harry knew he had to talk to her. He was the reason she wasn’t talking to Louis anyways and upset Louis meant upset Harry, which wasn’t good.

“Please forgive me for getting between you and Louis” Perrie scoffs.

“It’s too late now, isn’t it?” Harry sighs.

“I’m sorry anyways”

“I just wanted to understand him, you know? What’s this shit about the exchange? He didn’t even think I would be alone if he left. How can your best friend leave without thinking about you?”

Harry frowns. What was she on about?

“Hold on, what exchange thing?”

She stares at him as if he has grown two heads.

“Louis wants to study in another country. Didn’t he tell you about it?”

“No, he didn’t” Harry admits and looks down.

Why would Louis hide this from him?

*

“Calm down, people” Zayn orders. “I think, since this is an important moment in little Louis’ life, we should play some music, what do you think?”

Niall snickers and Zayn goes to the music system. He presses play in a random song and then grabs Pudding, signaling for everyone to shut up.

*

“Well, it doesn’t matter now. What matters is, he doesn’t care about me now, he changed me for you in 10 seconds and it’s as if he doesn’t realize it”

“It’s not like that, Pez” Harry insists.

He doesn’t know how to make Perrie understand things are not how she thinks they are. Yes, he and Louis are friends, but so are Louis and her, and Harry and her. He is not trying to steal him from her; he never wanted things to be like this.

“It is like that, Harry. You don’t know how things were here before you appeared”

“Why don’t you tell him that, then? We should say what we feel, not keep it inside”

Perrie doesn’t say anything and Harry doesn’t know if he could handle the silence right now.

“Right?”

It happens in a matter of seconds and all he can do when Perrie presses her lips against his is turn his face.

She scoffs and leaves.

*

“A little bit more, yeah…”

Niall is helping Louis give small steps and Zayn is opposite them, holding Pudding in front of his face.

Everything is a blur after that.

“What the fuck? Are you all insane?”

Louis doesn’t have time to wonder what is going on before he is being dragged outside.

“Twats!”

“Perrie, what are you doing?”

Everybody laughs and Perrie closes the door behind herself.

*

“Perrie, are you crazy?” Perrie sighs and grabs his arm.

“Let’s go home, Lou”

“I can’t believe you’re jealous of Marta too!” Perrie exhales and drops his arm.

“Weren’t you the one who said I should kiss someone?” She doesn’t reply and Louis sighs.

“Look, Pez, I’m upset about our fight, but you’re acting so weird. I don’t even know if I can trust you anymore”

And that was the final straw.

“Oh, fuck you Louis” Perrie snaps and Louis is left alone.

He hears the door open and close and then Harry is next to him.

“Where is Perrie?”

“She is gone”

He tries to go back inside but Harry steps on his way to prevent him to do so.

“Well, we should go too”

“Why? The party is good, Harry” Harry sighs.

“Are you going to act like Perrie now? Why aren’t you with Eleanor?”

“Seriously Lou, let’s go”

“Harry, I don’t understand! First, you bring me to the party, and now you want me to leave? What the hell is going on?” Harry doesn’t respond.

“Answer me, damn it!” Louis yells.

“Whoa, calm down! Why are you mad at me?”

“Because everybody wants to control me and won’t let me kiss anyone!” Louis snaps.

And that’s the last thing he remembers before Harry grabs him by his neck, leans in and kisses him softly before leaving him alone outside.

*

7 hours have passed since Harry kissed Louis and he still doesn’t know what to think about it.

He is lying on his bed, just thinking. Why did he kiss him? Was it a “just in the moment” thing? Did he really want to do it? Did he make it just to shut him up? Did he feel pity for him? A million doubts were running on his head and he didn’t have a clue where to start analyzing them.

He grabs his phone from the bedside table and presses the voicemail key.

_“You don’t have new calls”_

He sighs. Harry hasn’t contacted him since last night. Was he angry? Did he regret it? Was he pushing him away? His thoughts are broken when his mom knocks on his door.

“Lou, I’m going to Tesco’s. Do you want something?”

“I’ll come with you”

“Oh, alright”

He stands up and puts on his shoes. He grabs his phone and is intend on taking it with him, but then thinks better about it and just shrugs, throwing it towards his bed. If Harry doesn’t want to talk to him then there is no reason for him to be waiting for something that isn’t going to happen any time soon.

And all the way to Tesco’s, he can’t stop thinking about Harry.

*

_7:45 am_

“Come on, guys! We are leaving!” Mr. Felix yells. “To the bus, now!”

Everybody gathers their things and get on the bus. Perrie waits for everyone to ride the bus. The last thing she needs is to share a seat with anyone from her class. When people move, her eyes find Louis sitting by himself on a bench and with his phone pressed to his ear. She knows he wasn’t talking to anyone when he just sighs and places it on his jacket again. When she watches Mr. Felix getting closer she sighs and gets on the bus.

_7:50 am_

“What’s wrong Louis? You’re not coming?” Mr. Felix pats his shoulder and Louis flinches. “You’re the last one, come on. I’ll help you”

“Thanks” He says and they walk together to the yellow bus.

_8:00 am_

Louis is stuck sitting somewhere in the front with someone else. Mr. Felix told him it was empty and helped him seat so he had no idea who was sitting next to him but honestly, he didn’t care. He knew it wasn’t Harry so what was the point in figuring out?

He can hear Mr. Felix walking down the hallway and counting the students by pairs.

“Everybody calm down! I will do roll call because there are two people missing” Just when he finishes talking, they ride the bus.

“Whoa there! They’re not missing anymore” Zayn exclaims and everybody whistles.

What is going on?

Eleanor laughs.

“Oh God, you’re all so naughty! Come on Harry, there are two seats behind”

Oh, so that’s what’s going on. He tries to ignore the situation, maybe Harry isn’t going to sit with her. But when he feels a familiar jacket grazing his arm and then hears that person walking down the hall, he knows he was expecting something impossible.

“So, these are the rules and instructions…”

*

Mr. Felix’s first assignment was to fish some plankton in order to analyze them in the laboratory later. All his classmates gathered their containers and rods and got ready to fish.

Meanwhile, Louis is sitting on a rock in front of a small lake.

“Louis,” Mr. Felix crouches to his level. “I got these for you. Keep this bottle”

“Thank you” Louis grabs the recipient and smiles.

“We will analyze it on the lab later, alright?” Louis nods in understanding.

“Fill up a form, ask a friend for help, alright?”

“Alright”

“You can do it later if you want, and if you need anything I’m right here” Mr. Felix reminds him.

Louis thanks him and he leaves. Mr. Felix has always been one of his favorite teachers. Louis is about to leave when he suddenly hears Harry’s voice to his left.

“Good morning, Louis” Harry says, sitting on the grass next to him.

“Morning, H” Louis replies.

“So, how’s your assignment going?” Louis shakes the bottle on his direction and shrugs.

“It’s good” Harry smiles.

“Let me see”

Harry grabs the bottle and examines it, rolling it on his hands and placing it under the sun to have a better view.

“Man, your zoo-plankton doesn’t look very happy” Louis giggles.

“What about yours?”

“Mine’s hangover, for sure” They chuckle and silence reigns over them.

Louis bites his lip and frowns. This is the first time they have talked after the party. Should he bring the kiss up? The uncertainty has been eating his insides these last days and he needs to know what that was about.

“Eleanor’s party was crazy, uh?” He asks instead.

Harry shrugs.

“I don’t remember anything” He replies nonchalantly.

Louis frowns.

“What do you mean?”

“I was totally drunk,” He explains. “I just remembering being locked up in the bathroom with Perrie and fighting”

Louis sighs.

“Did you drink that much?”

“I guess”

There’s silence between them after his statement. And Harry couldn’t be sure, but as he was staring at Louis, he could swear he saw the disappointment on his features.

*

Mr. Felix promised he would allow them to relax once they were done with their assignment.

Which is why right now, Louis was sitting on the edge of the pool with his feet inside the warm water while Harry decided to swim for a bit. Harry swims to Louis after a while and rests his elbows on the edge of the pool.

“Harry, where are the curls?” Eleanor asks as she approaches him and ruffles his hair.

“Wait till they dry” She laughs.

Harry would never admit it, but she was too easy to charm, and he enjoyed the attention. He flips hair and splashes her ankles.

“See you, then” She smiles and leaves.

Harry sighs and pulls himself on his hands to get out of the pool.

“Hey Lou, wanna go sit?”

“Sure”

Harry helps him stand up and walks him to the deck chairs. Louis lies on the one on his left and Harry sits on his, drying himself off with his yellow towel.

“Are you gonna apply some sun block, Lou?” Louis makes a disgusted face.

“No, I hate it”

“Not even your face?” He asks, eyebrow arched.

Louis sighs.

“Alright”

He extends his hand and Harry pours him some of the lotion. Louis applies it to his face but, as usual, does it wrong, and he gets excess on his left cheek. Harry smiles fondly and rubs the excess from his face.

They are so lost in each other that they don’t notice Zayn and Niall are now on the edge of the pool, watching them and smirking.

“What about your body?”

“You’re starting to sound like my mother, Harry” Louis groans and Harry chuckles.

He pours him some more sun block on his hand and watches as he applies it to his shoulders, chest and stomach.

Zayn and Niall rest their arms on the edge of the pool.

Harry finishes with his own body and realizes Louis didn’t spread the sun block on his stomach. He snorts and rubs some of the sun block around Louis’ abdomen.

“Aw, seems like the lovebirds are aroused, uh Louis?” Zayn says with a girly voice and Niall snorts.

Harry frowns and stops touching Louis, who tenses when he hears his name.

“Mind your own life, you clown” Harry snaps.

“Aw, look, he is angry” Niall mocks and Zayn snorts. They swim to his friends and leave them alone.

An awkward silence settles between them after that.

*

30 minutes have passed and Harry and Louis are still lying on the deck chairs. Mr. Felix announced lunch would be soon, so everybody left to clean themselves off in the showers. Louis asked Harry to stay with him until he deemed it suitable to shower on their own, so they have been sunbathing for the last 30 minutes.

“Should we leave now, Lou? We’ve waited long enough”

“No, not yet” He whines. “I’m not going to shower with other people, Harry”

Harry rolls his eyes. “Don’t be a child, Lou”

“I’m not a child. That’s embarrassing!”

“Well, get over it, I’m leaving” Harry threatens and stands up.

“No, Harry wait!” He screams and stands up, gripping his arm tightly.

“Jerk” Harry snorts.

*

When they reach the showers, everybody has already left.

“Harry?”

“Nobody is here, don’t worry. Somebody left the shower running”

He walks to one of the shower stalls and closes the faucet.

“Alright, take off your clothes and I’ll help you get in the showers”

“I’m ready” Louis says.

“What do you mean you’re ready? Are you going to shower with shorts?”

“Yes” Harry snorts.

“You are so strange, Louis”

They are already shirtless, so it shouldn’t be a problem. Harry takes off his green shorts and stands up.

“Let’s go”

Louis stands up and grabs his arm. They walk to the showers and Harry helps him stand in front of one of the stalls.

“Here, put your stuff here”

Harry instructs and helps him set his shampoo and soap next to the faucet. He walks to his own shower and turns it on. Louis touches the water with his finger to test the temperature and then gets under the spray, at the same time Harry does.

Harry begins by applying soap to his shoulders, then his chest and lastly his arms. Louis applies soap all over his chest and stomach and allows the water to clean him off.

“Fuck, this sun block won’t get off with anything”

“Well, use more soap then” Harry replies cheekily.

He uncaps his bottle of shampoo and applies it to his head. Suddenly, he turns around and finds Louis facing away from him, exposing the perfect view of his backside. He takes in every corner of Louis’ back and gets mesmerized by Louis’ muscles when he raises his hands to watch his hair, how they flex with every movement, how his spine pops out when he leans to grab more shampoo. He slowly allows his gaze to drop from his shoulders to his spine, to the bottle of his waistband, to his round, perfect bum, thighs and legs.

And just when he is about to look away, Louis takes his blue shorts off, giving him the perfect view of his bum. Harry gulps. Louis is unaware of Harry’s burning gaze on his back, and Harry should feel guilty, he knows it’s not right to stare at your best friend with such lust, but he can’t bring himself to look away.

He has to force himself to look away when he feels the heat between his legs though.

“I was thinking about drinking tonight” Louis says, breaking him of his trance.

“Well, there’s always a first time, right?”

Harry says, and if Louis notices his voice is slightly pitched, well, he doesn’t mention it. He turns around to face him. It’s the same for him, but he figures having a conversation with someone’s back is not something Harry usually does.

“We could drink together. Will you drink?”

“I think so” Harry answers, taking the shampoo off his eyes and turning around.

And oh, okay.

He tried to avert his gaze, but he couldn’t. Not when Louis was facing him in all of his glory. His eyes wander slowly from his face to his feet lustfully and he can feel the heat increasing between his legs.

“Alright, I’m done”

He suddenly exclaims and walks to the bench. If he stayed one more minute next to Louis, he doesn’t know what he would do.

“Already?” Louis asks, bewildered.

“Mhm” Harry dries himself off with his towel and waits for Louis to finish his shower, trying to control his boner with his hands.

*

They are walking towards one of the gardens, Louis gripping Harry’s arm tightly. After their showers, they dressed up and decided to join the rest of their classmates on the bonfire. Louis is wearing a blue jumper and khaki shorts. Harry decided to dress similar, wearing a stripped black and brown jumper and matching shorts. They have been talking about anything on their way and Louis thinks that even if Harry doesn’t remember what happened on Eleanor’s party and will mostly never reciprocate his feelings, this moment will remain in his memory forever.

Yes, his feelings. Louis has had enough time to think these days and he has come to the conclusion that he is stupidly in love with Harry. It took him a while to realize it, but he finally admitted it to himself and he is okay with that.

Well, not really. He could be better if Harry just kissed him again and admitted he has feelings for him too, but things don’t always work out for everyone, so he’ll take what he has, and right now what he has is Harry’s friendship. He won’t ruin it only because he wants more from him.

“Does your zoo-plankton still have a hangover?” He asks in order to stop his train of thoughts.

Harry snorts. “Yeah”

“Hey Harry, Louis”

And of course, _Eleanor_. Stupid, annoying Eleanor. She is like a freaking gum on the shoe, attached the sole until you have to get a fucking razor to remove it.

“Hey!” Harry replies, excitedly.

Louis wishes he could cut his tongue off and make her swallow it.

“Oh, I love your shirt Harry” She said, touching his elbow for emphasis.

Harry smiles. “Thank you, El”

 _El? El? Seriously?_ Louis had to mentally insert an apple on his mouth to prevent himself from screaming.

“Are you guys excited?” She asks, clapping her hands.

“I’m a little tired” Louis replies sharply.

“Come on, the party is just beginning! We’ll see the sunrise today”

“Maybe you will, I won’t see anything”

“Oh, I’m sorry”

_Yes, you are. Harry can mess up around me as much as he wants, but you can’t, bitch._

“Didn’t you say you wanted to drink tonight, Lou?” Harry asks, breaking the tense atmosphere.

“Oh, that was before, I’m tired now” He insists.

“No, you’re not, we’re drinking tonight” Harry insists.

They reach the bonfire and sit on the grass, Louis to Harry’s left and Eleanor to his right.

“Is Perrie here?” Louis asks.

Harry’s eyes find her sitting across them and he waves her over. She ignores him nevertheless.

“She’s over there, pretending that she can’t see us”

Harry waves her over again and she huffs, standing up and walking towards them.

“Why aren’t you guys talking anymore, Louis?” Eleanor asks.

_Why do you care?_

“I don’t know” He shrugs.

“You should talk to her” Harry says.

“Talk about what? She’s over there, pretending we don’t exist, she can’t even come near us”

“Were you calling me?” Perrie asks, cutting Louis’ rant about her midway.

“Sit” Harry instructs.

“Why?” She fights.

Harry shrugs. “Sit with us”

She sighs and sits next to Louis, crossing her arms over her chest. Harry decides to break the awkward silence.

“Eleanor and I will go grab some drinks”

“Will we now?” She asks excitedly.

“Yup, we’ll be right back”

Harry takes her hand and helps her stand up. Louis huffs and Perrie sighs. A few minutes pass by and none of them says anything, until Louis sighs and decides to speak.

“I’m sorry”

“What for? For not being brave enough to talk and asking Harry to do it for you?” He exhales.

“No, Pez”

“Why then?”

“I don’t know, everything” He shrugs.

“Begin for the beginning” He sighs and sits straighter.

“I’m sorry for yelling at you at Eleanor’s party”

“Fuck Louis, they were going to make you kiss a dog!” She groans.

Louis frowns. What?

“What? What dog?”

Perrie’s face falls and she mentally face palms herself.

“Lou…”

“Perrie, what dog?” He asks, irritated.

“When I dragged you out of the party, Zayn had a dog in front of you”

Louis looks down and gulps.

He really fucked up.

“Thank you for dragging me outside” She sighs and drops her shoulders.

“I’m sorry too. I think I exaggerated when I was angry with you,” Perrie admits. “But you changed me for Harry so fast and I…”

“No!” Louis shrieks. “Of course not Pez! I would never change you”

he smiles and looks down. Those are the only words she needed to hear from him.

“It’s like an eclipse, you know?”

She glances over to him and arches an eyebrow, not quiet comprehending what he meant.

“The Earth is between the moon and the sun” He continues. “And the moon disappears from the sky, but it’s still there. And then, the Earth moves and you can see the moon again. It’s just like us”

Throughout the years, Louis has said some weird shit, but honestly. What?

“I don’t get it, what does that have to do with anything?”

“If this was an eclipse, Harry would be the Earth and you’d be the moon”

“Oh, right, and you’d be the pretty sun, uh?” She teases.

“Yes, obviously” They chuckle. “No, it depends, really. If it was a solar eclipse, you’d be the sun. Beautiful”

Perrie bursts out laughing and Louis joins her afterwards. She sighs and moves closer to Louis, placing her head on his shoulder and cuddling with him. Louis rests his head on hers and sighs. He really missed her.

“Where is the Earth now?”

“He’s with the meteorite Eleanor” Louis snorts.

His best friend was so stupid.

“Do you want to get drunk with them?”

Perrie sighs. They just fixed their issues and Louis is already looking for Harry. If she hadn’t missed him so much she would have made a huge drama already.

“Sure”

She helps him stand up and he grabs her am. They leave the bonfire, where people are still drinking, laughing and singing. They walk across the garden and she holds him tightly when they walk past Zayn and Niall’s group. She can be upset with him, but that doesn’t mean she won’t look up for him. Louis will always have her back.

“Can you see them anywhere?”

“Not yet”

“Are you sure they’re not here?”

They stop somewhere in the garden and she looks around. Her eyes land on the couple talking and laughing down the hill.

“No, Louis” She lies. “They are not here. They might be shagging”

He feels his eyes widen and he gulps.

“You think so?”

“They’re always together lately”

He inhales and exhales loudly. Alright, screw them then.

“You know what? Let’s drink without them. Who do you think has Vodka?”

Perrie smirks. Her best friend is back.

*

Perrie walks him to the tent where she knows they’ve got Vodka. She opens it and sticks her head inside.

“Hey, do you have Vodka?”

“Perrie?” The Franco or whatever dude replies. “Eleanor’s party made you good, uh?”

She smirks. “Yeah, I might even be an alcoholic”

He laughs. “Come in!”

“Alright, Lou is here too” Franco nods.

Perrie helps Louis come inside and he sits next to her on the floor. Franco makes sure to close his tent before he turns to them.

“Welcome to my station, amateurs!” He snorts and Perrie fakes a laugh.

“Are you drinking, Louis?”

“Yup” He replies. Franco hands each one of them a blue plastic cup.

“Great!” He begins pouring Vodka on their cups.

“Um, listen, have you seen Harry somewhere?”

Perrie rolls her eyes and drinks from her cup. Can’t Louis just let him go?

Yeah, I saw him with Eleanor. It was a while ago though. Those two won’t let go, uh?”

Perrie and Franco laugh and clap their glasses.

Louis only hopes Franco’s wrong.

“Cheers!” Franco shouts.

“Cheers!” Perrie replies.

And they drink from their cups.

*

After getting wasted with Franco, Louis and Perrie decided to find an isolated spot on the garden. They placed their towels on the grass and now they’re lying on their backs, laughing at every stupid thing they can think of.

When they have calmed down, Louis speaks.

“Pez, do you think I’m gorgeous?” Perrie laughs loudly.

“What?” He snorts. They are really wasted.

“You know, do you think people consider me gorgeous?” She shrugs.

“Well, I do” Louis snorts.

“Not you, Pez. I mean, do you think people think I’m gorgeous when they look at me?” Perrie sighs.

“I don’t know, Lou. I never check their reactions. You should ask Eleanor” Louis scoffs.

“No, she thinks Harry is gorgeous”

A comfortable silence settles between them until Louis speaks again.

“Would you miss me if I went through with the exchange program?”

Perrie sighs and turns over, holding her weight with her elbows.

“I would miss you a lot” Louis smiles fondly at her.

“I would miss you too”

“Do you think we’d still be friends?”

“Of course” She smiles and Louis sighs.

“I need to tell you something”

Louis says suddenly.

“Mhm, why so serious now?” She smirks.

“It’s just, it’s not that simple”

Perrie rolls her eyes.

“Just say it, Lou”

“Is anyone else here?”

Perrie turns around and checks everywhere.

“Nope, we are alone, go ahead” Louis sighs.

Alright, it’s now or never.

“I think I fancy Harry”

Perrie’s mouth sets in a straight line. Wait, what?

“Pez?”

“What do you mean you “fancy” Harry?”

“I think I’m in love with him”

And oh, okay, that’s the last thing she thought she’d ever hear from her best friend. And now everything makes sense to her. But, when the hell did this happen?

“Can you say something?” Louis asks and she can see him getting anxious.

“I finished my drink, I’ll go grab another one” She says instead, wanting to get away from him as soon as possible.

“No, Pez, wait!” Louis begs.

She stands up and begins walking towards the cabin. Louis won’t ever mention it, but he can hear the exact moment when she throws her drink on the grass and keeps walking away from him.

*

She never came back.

And well, it shouldn’t have hurt him as much as it did. He has been sitting by himself on the same spot since Perrie left and he can’t hear music anymore. Everybody must be sleeping already. He imagined a billion scenarios of how Perrie would react, but this one never crossed his mind. He feels betrayed and hurt. He thought that, even if the world hated him, she would be the last one to turn her back on him.

He is about to leave when he hears a noise coming from the pool, not too far from him. He frowns and stands up, intend on finding out who is still awake. When he reaches the pool, he hears someone laughing.

“Louis! Come into the pool!” Harry yells.

Louis smiles and is about to reply when another voice startles him.

“Come on, Louis!”

His face falls. Not again.

“It’s so good!” Eleanor screams. He sighs.

“Thanks lads, but I’m looking for Perrie, actually. Have you seen her?”

“No, she must be sleeping” Eleanor answers.

“Seriously, come in! It’s warm!” Harry insists.

“Yes, till sunrise!”

“Eleanor!” Harry exclaims and she bursts out laughing.

“I’m sorry, I always forget!”

Louis swears he didn’t just imagine her drowning.

“I’m sorry guys, I don’t have a swimsuit”

“We don’t either!”

She screams and his eyes widen. Are they both naked?

“Who needs one anyways?”

He sighs and walks to the edge of the pool, taking his shorts off and jumping to the water with only his boxers on.

*

“Lou, you have a fever” Jay says, as she reads the 38ºC digit on the thermometer.

“I can’t believe you got sick! Didn’t you say you were a responsible adult?” She accuses.

“Your teacher told me you were swimming on the pool at night, what were you thinking?” Louis sighs.

“Here, have some tea,” Louis sips his cup. “And you want us to let you go on exchange after this?”

“You say it like you never did anything wrong at my age” He snaps.

“I did, but this is different”

And at that, Louis scoffs.

“Why?”

“Because you are my son, Louis. And I don’t want anything bad to happen to you”

“Whatever” He says, well aware that that’s not the reason it’s different with him.

“One day, you’ll have children and understand” He makes a face.

“Oh no, I don’t want children”

“And why not?”

“Overpopulation” He shrugs and sips from his cup.

Jay chuckles.

“Well, you can adopt one. One day you’ll meet someone, fall in love and then well, who knows”

He sighs, memories of Harry and Eleanor together on camp playing on his head.

“I doubt that”

“You doubt what? That you’ll fall in love or that you’ll have children?”

“Both” Louis shrugs.

Jay stares at him, realizing just now how fragile her boy is. All he really wants is to feel normal, to feel that he belongs, and she hasn’t made it any easier for him. She massages his scalp and kisses his temple.

“You are too young, don’t force things on you. So many things will change, you’ll see”

And Louis wants to believe she is right.

*

Mrs. Audi keeps talking and they occupy themselves taking notes.

Perrie turns to her left and finds Louis’ desk empty. They haven’t talked since he confessed his feelings for Harry and she genuinely regrets leaving him alone that night. He caught her off guard and she didn’t know how to react. Now she feels like the worst best friend in the world. How could she leave him like that when he needed her support more than ever? They were okay again and she ruined it, how could she have been so dumb?

She sighs and resumes taking notes on her notebook.

*

Louis’ door is suddenly opened and he hears a familiar voice greeting him.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Pez! How are you?”

“Um,” Perrie scratches the back of her neck. “Good, how are you?”

He shrugs.

“Sick, but fine”

“I see” She says, sitting on Louis’ chair while he keeps fidgeting with his hands on his bed.

“So, are you coming to school tomorrow?”

“I’m not sure”

The awkward silence that settles between them is unbearable.

Great Perrie, you really ruined everything.

“So, you like Harry then?”

Louis snorts, she really could have tried harder to hide her discomfort.

“Jerk”

She smiles and walks over to his bed, patting his knee so he can move. She sits in front of him and rests her back against the wall, placing his legs over hers and patting his knees.

“I’m sorry Louis, for leaving you alone that night,” She begins. “I just never thought about you that way”

He sighs.

“Well, I also never thought we could fight so…”

Louis chuckles.

“Wasn’t that was you wanted though? A huge drama?”

“No,” She says, playing with her hair on her shoulders. “I wanted a huge romance, like yours”

“Well, there’s drama in my huge romance too, and it’s called Eleanor” Perrie sighs.

“Do you really think so?” Louis shrugs.

“It’s so obvious. You said so yourself”

“You can never be sure though,” She smirks. “Just look at yourself”

Louis laughs, she was so stupid.

“I think you guys would make a cute couple”

Perrie says after a while and Louis smiles, squeezes her hand and sighs.

Maybe she was right.

*

Perrie and Harry are silently walking home after school. Perrie had talked to him on school and told him that she didn’t see the point on fighting anymore and that if he didn’t want to talk to her it was okay, but she really missed him.

Harry had just hugged her and kissed her cheek.

They were okay now.

“Have you talked to Louis?” She asks.

“He left me a voice message. Said he’s sick”

“Yeah. Maybe you should go see him. Today is Wednesday. He’s alone”

Harry glances at her with an arched eyebrow and she just smirks knowingly, making him blush, smile and shake his head.

Maybe he should.

*

Louis is lying on his bed. His mom is visiting his grandma and his dad is working, so it’s a surprise when he hears the door bell ring.

He stands up and slowly makes his way to the door.

“Who is it?” He asks.

“It’s me, Harry!”

Louis raises his eyebrows. What is he doing here?

He opens the door and lets him in. They make their way to his room and Harry closes the door. Louis sits on his bean bag and Harry takes his place in the familiar swivel chair of the desk.

“So am I the only sick one?” Harry snorts.

“Oh, poor little boy” He says with a fake baby voice.

“Eleanor did say the pool damaged her hair though, because of the chlorine” Louis laughs.

 _Good_ , he thinks.

There is silence for a few minutes, until Louis decides to ask him about it.

“Did you have something with Eleanor?” Harry frowns.

“No, why?” Louis shrugs.

“You got lost on camp and everybody was talking about you two”

Harry sighs and looks down.

“Well,” He stands up and sits next to Louis. “Remember when you were alone with Perrie, talking?”

Louis nods.

“Well, I thought we should let you talk and fix your issues, so we left to get drinks. And when we were there, she tried to kiss me, but I moved”

Louis gasps and his mouth forms an ‘O’ shape.

“God, what did she do?”

“She asked why I didn’t want to kiss her”

“And what did you say?”

“I said I had a girlfriend back in London” Louis snorts at that.

A girlfriend back in London, seriously? Was that the best excuse that he could come up with?

“And right after that, she opened her heart and told me about her ex boyfriends, so I told her fake stories about my fake girlfriend”

Louis openly laughs at that and Harry smirks.

“And the more we talked, the more we drank,” He admits. “We didn’t even notice when we got into the pool. And that’s when you found us”

Louis raises an eyebrow.

“You must have drunk a lot at her party, uh Harry?”

Harry frowns. What?

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if you drank that much on camp but you can remember everything that happened, then I’m just wondering how much you drank on her party to get alcoholic amnesia”

Louis smirks and he can’t see, but if Harry shifting on his sit isn’t a sign that he is blushing then he doesn’t want to know what’s happening.

“But, Harry, why didn’t you do anything with her?” Louis asks, seriously this time.

“Well…” Harry stands up and walks to Louis’ chair, grabbing the edge with both hands.

Come on Harry, you can do this.

It’s now or never.

“Actually, I fancy another person” He confesses.

Louis’ eyes widen slightly and he gulps.

“Do I know that person?” Harry chuckles.

“Yes, you do”

And Louis doesn’t want to get his hopes up, he really doesn’t, but he can feel Harry’s smile and he can’t help himself when his heart beats faster with each second that passes.

“And does that person fancy you back?”

“I don’t know if the same way I do, but yeah”

There is a small pause, and then…

“Actually, I have kissed that person before”

Louis can feel the heat on his cheeks and he bites his lip nervously.

“But it was too fast, lasted some seconds. Then I was too shy to bring it up, and apparently that person was too, so I just gave up”

And Louis knows Harry is talking about him. He has to be.

He stands up and exhales. He can’t see him, but he can feel him in front of him, they are face to face and _so_ close.

Louis hides his hands on his back pockets and gulps, waiting for Harry to just say or do something.

“Louis, if you steal a kiss from someone, how do you give it back?” Harry asks.

And that’s it.

Louis smiles and he can feel Harry smiling back. He slowly brings his hands to Harry’s chest, neck, face, and traces his lips with his fingers. When he feels brave enough, he grabs Harry by the collar of his shirt and seals their lips together. He kisses him, and Harry kisses him back. It’s a slow, sweet and passionate kiss and Louis is thankful that he waited so long for this.

Harry places his hands on Louis’ slim waist and brings him closer, deepening the kiss. Louis opens his mouth and Harry’s tongue slowly massages his, making him feel safe and loved. Louis touches Harry’s hair with one of his hands and Harry smiles.

He feels happy, he _is_ happy. Never in a million years would he have thought that he’d be sharing a kiss with this gorgeous boy, and if someone told him three months back that he would have fallen in love with a boy, he would have laughed on their faces. Louis smiles back, and then the kiss becomes awkward. They press their foreheads together and smile, laugh, brush their noses.

They are content, that’s the only word to describe how they feel right now.

Harry opens his eyes and stares at this boy, his boy, his beautiful boy. Louis sighs and hides his head on Harry’s neck, breathing him in and allowing him to bring him closer, hold him tight and kiss his temple.

And it’s in this moment that Harry realizes how wrong he was a while back, because yes, dancing with Louis was amazing, but nothing was better than this.

This was the best day of his life.

*

“Sparta was divided in three groups: Spartiate, perioeci and helots” Harry explains, holding a sheet of paper on his hands.

“Mhm?” Mrs. Audi hums, signaling for them to continue.

Harry pats Louis’ stomach and he reacts.

“Um, Spartiate kids were taken to the army…”

There is a knock on the door and he stops talking.

“Come in!”

The door opens and a boy with big brown eyes and hair comes into sight.

“Um, excuse me? Is this the 211?”

“You are…? Liam, right?” He nods.

“Liam, yeah”

“Ok, come in”

“Thanks” He smiles and closes the door.

He looks around and his eyes fall on an empty desk in the first row.

“Can I sit in that empty desk?”

“Sure” Mrs. Audi replies.

Liam nods and walks to the desk.

“Is this your backpack?” He asks.

“Yes, it’s mine” Perrie says, blushing and placing it on the floor.

Liam nods and sits in the desk next to her, thanking her with a warm smile. She blushes harder and looks down, biting her lip nervously.

“Please, continue” Mrs. Audi commands.

“Um, men had to dedicate their lives to the army”

Harry and Louis keep talking about Sparta, and if Perrie and Liam share shy glances during their exposition then well, nobody is paying them enough attention to complain.

*

School is finally over and Perrie, Harry and Louis are ready to leave. They are about to reach the street when they hear Zayn’s voice calling them.

“Whoa, watch out! The lovebirds are aroused, uh Louis?”

They stop on their tracks and Zayn’s group stands behind them, watching them with smirks on their faces.

Louis giggles and smirks. He slowly slides his hand down Harry’s arm, and when he finds his hand he intertwines their fingers. Harry smiles and squeezes his hand, successfully making Zayn’s smirk vanish from his face.

Zayn’s friends burst out laughing and he takes a deep breath through his nostrils.

“He fucked you up, prick” Niall screams and laughs out loud.

“Shut up” Zayn grits through his teeth and turns around, showing his back to them.

Perrie, Harry and Louis chuckle and keep walking, holding hands all the way down the street.

*

Louis was a firm believer in fate.

He always thought that things happened for a reason, and always knew deep inside that if he was blind, it’s because life had great things planned for him. Yes, he complained about his parents and yes, he still wishes they didn’t overprotect him that much, but he can say now that he understands why they act that way. And there’s only one word to explain their behavior.

_Love._

Because honestly, why do we do everything, if not for love? Love is what gives a mother enough strength to keep pushing and pushing until she hears her baby cry; love is what gives a man enough faith and courage to risk his life on a war; love is what makes dogs shake their tails and cry when they see their owners after hours; love is what gives courage to brave people who get a bullet for their partner; love is what pushes a brother to defend his little sister; love is what helps a blind guy to see the beauty in everything that surrounds him.

Love makes you feel alive. You wake up and you are thankful because even though someone else didn’t make it to this day, you get to open your eyes and experience this feeling at its finest. And it makes you lose track of time. You don’t know what time it is until you stop feeling the sun burning on your skin and you realize it’s time to go back home and experience a different kind of love.

He didn’t understand it at first, but now that he has experienced that feeling, he knows that everything, every little detail, every little moment and every memory in his life is based upon love. And in the end, it’s not always what you wish for what makes you happy, it’s what you get, and what you get is a million times better than what you were expecting.

Love makes you believe that the impossible can happen and boosts your faith, it makes you believe that the little things you thought you would never experience are easy to accomplish, and it allows you to enjoy life a little bit more. Love can change your perspective on things and it makes you believe in yourself.

And when someone else believes in you more than you do, there is no point on trying to deny that you have found your little piece of love.

So it’s really no surprise to anyone when the first day of summer, Louis drives them through Manchester on Harry’s bicycle, gripping the steering wheel tightly, and both boys laughing all the way down the street.

And now, Louis knows that summer holds a special meaning for him too.

 

**The End.**


End file.
